New Delhi,Updated: March 7, 2023 21:12 IST
By India Today Science Desk: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Tuesday successfully de-orbited a satellite after completing its mission. Megha Trophics-1 was brought down It broke away from its orbit and burned up in the sky over the Pacific Ocean.
“Controlled re-entry test of aborted Megha-Tropics-1 (MT-1) was successfully completed on March 7, 2023,” ISRO tweeted.
Megha-Tropiques-1 was launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) on October 12, 2011, as a joint mission by ISRO and the French space agency, CNES, to study tropical weather and climate. The mission was initially planned to operate for three years, but was later extended as it provided key information on climate for a decade.
ISRO crashed the satellite as part of its commitment to the United Nations Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (UNIADC) after the end of the mission’s life. UN guidelines state that the satellite should be deorbited at the end of its life, preferably by controlled re-entry into a safe impact zone, or brought into an orbit where the orbital lifetime is less than 25 years.
ISRO said Megha-Tropix-1 still had about 125 kg of onboard fuel, which was estimated to be enough for a fully controlled atmospheric re-entry.
India has been vocal about the space junk surrounding Earth and how it makes observations difficult and even increases the risk of collisions in zero gravity.
Also Read | Beyond IST, the Moon may have its own time zone
Also Read | ISRO receives crew module for Gaganyaan mission
