ISRO’s Indo-French TRISHNA Satellite Enters Advanced Development Stage, Launch Expected in 2027–28

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French space agency CNES are advancing the development of TRISHNA, a joint Earth observation satellite designed to monitor land surface temperatures, agricultural water stress, coastal environments and climate-related changes with high precision.

On October 11, 2026, Jasvinder Singh Khoral, Director (Projects) at ISRO’s U.R. Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), reportedly stated that the satellite had reached an advanced stage of realisation. According to The Hindu, he indicated that the mission could launch within the next 12 to 16 months, placing the anticipated launch period between October 2027 and February 2028.

The French space agency CNES currently lists 2027 as the scheduled launch year, although a precise launch date has not been announced. The mission represents another major step in India-France space cooperation, combining Indian satellite engineering with French expertise in high-resolution thermal infrared imaging.

TRISHNA to Monitor Earth’s Temperature and Water Resources

TRISHNA stands for Thermal Infra-Red Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural Resource Assessment. The satellite will observe Earth’s surface using thermal infrared and optical instruments, generating measurements that support agricultural planning, water management and environmental monitoring.

According to ISRO’s official mission description published on June 5, 2024, TRISHNA aims to measure surface temperature, emissivity and other environmental variables needed to understand how energy and water move between the Earth’s surface and atmosphere.

A central objective is monitoring evapotranspiration, the combined process through which water evaporates from soil and other surfaces and moves into the atmosphere through plant transpiration. These measurements help scientists estimate agricultural water consumption, detect vegetation stress and assess irrigation efficiency.

Unlike conventional optical observations, thermal infrared imaging can identify temperature differences that are not visible to the human eye. This capability allows researchers to identify changes in crop conditions, soil moisture-related stress and surface heating patterns.

India and France Developing Two Advanced Imaging Payloads

TRISHNA will carry two complementary scientific instruments developed by ISRO and CNES. Their combined observations will provide information about surface temperatures, vegetation characteristics and the Earth’s energy balance.

The Thermal Infra-Red (TIR) instrument, supplied by CNES, will use four long-wave infrared spectral channels to measure land and coastal surface temperatures. According to CNES, the instrument is designed to achieve a temperature measurement accuracy of approximately 0.3°C under specified performance conditions.

The French agency has entrusted development of the thermal infrared instrument to Airbus. Its imaging system incorporates scanning optics and a cooled detector assembly designed to capture thermal radiation emitted from Earth’s surface.

The Visible, Near-Infrared and Short-Wave Infrared (VNIR-SWIR) instrument, developed by ISRO, will observe reflected sunlight across seven spectral bands. These measurements will help identify vegetation conditions, land-cover characteristics and variables associated with surface energy exchanges.

Combining thermal and optical observations will allow scientists to distinguish temperature changes caused by vegetation stress, water availability and other environmental factors.

TRISHNA Satellite to Operate at 761 km Altitude

ISRO has designed the satellite to operate in a sun-synchronous orbit approximately 761 kilometres above Earth, enabling regular observations under consistent solar illumination conditions.

The mission will provide high-resolution thermal observations of land and coastal regions, with a nominal spatial resolution of approximately 57 metres. According to CNES, the mission’s observation system will revisit locations near the equator approximately every three days.

This combination of spatial detail and frequent observations will allow researchers to follow changes in agricultural fields, water bodies and urban environments over relatively short periods.

The satellite has a planned operational life of five years, during which its scientific instruments will collect environmental data for researchers, government agencies and resource management organisations.

CNES identifies India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) as the planned launch vehicle, with the mission expected to lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

Satellite Data to Improve Agricultural Water Management

Agricultural monitoring is among TRISHNA’s most important applications, particularly for countries such as India, where water availability directly affects crop productivity.

By measuring land surface temperatures and evapotranspiration, the satellite will help researchers assess how efficiently agricultural fields use water. Temperature patterns can reveal differences in crop water stress, supporting more informed irrigation management.

ISRO identifies irrigation planning, agricultural water-use assessment and crop productivity improvement as major applications of the mission. The resulting information can support agricultural advisory services, watershed management and sustainable groundwater use.

TRISHNA’s observations will also contribute to drought monitoring by providing measurements of vegetation conditions and changes in land surface temperatures. These datasets can complement existing satellite observations and ground-based measurements used in agricultural decision-making.

Coastal Monitoring, Urban Heat and Glacier Studies

Beyond agriculture, TRISHNA will support scientific investigations into coastal ecosystems, urban environments and the cryosphere.

Its thermal observations will help researchers identify temperature variations in coastal waters and examine environmental changes affecting marine and inland aquatic ecosystems. Combined with optical measurements, these observations can contribute to studies of water quality and coastal processes.

Urban planners will benefit from detailed temperature maps that reveal heat accumulation across built-up areas. Such information can improve understanding of urban heat islands, where roads, buildings and other infrastructure retain more heat than surrounding vegetated regions.

The mission will also contribute to monitoring snow cover, glacier melt and seasonal water movement in mountainous regions. These observations will support hydrological research and assessments of climate-related changes affecting freshwater resources.

Additional applications include detecting thermal anomalies associated with volcanic activity, geothermal resources and underground fires.

TRISHNA Becomes India’s Third Major Joint Satellite Mission with France

TRISHNA builds on a longstanding partnership between ISRO and CNES that has already produced two major Earth observation satellites.

The first, Megha-Tropiques, launched in October 2011, focused on studying tropical atmospheric processes, including rainfall, water vapour and energy exchanges. Its observations contributed to research on tropical weather systems and climate.

The second mission, SARAL, launched aboard PSLV-C20 on February 25, 2013, carried instruments for oceanographic research. Its primary objective was to measure sea surface height and support studies of ocean circulation and marine conditions.

TRISHNA extends this cooperation into high-resolution thermal Earth observation, addressing scientific requirements associated with agriculture, freshwater management and environmental change.

The mission also reflects the complementary capabilities of the two countries. ISRO is responsible for the satellite platform and optical imaging payload, while CNES contributes the thermal infrared instrument. Ground systems in India and France will support scientific data processing and distribution.

TRISHNA to Strengthen India’s Climate and Earth Observation Capabilities

The planned mission will contribute to international scientific programmes that require reliable environmental measurements. ISRO has identified potential contributions to agricultural monitoring initiatives, global water observation efforts and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Its measurements are expected to support the generation of Essential Climate Variables and Essential Agricultural Variables, helping researchers build more detailed assessments of environmental changes.

The satellite’s ability to observe both surface temperature and vegetation characteristics will complement existing Earth observation missions, strengthening the information available for climate science, natural resource planning and agricultural research.

With development progressing and the launch targeted for 2027–28, TRISHNA represents an important expansion of India’s Earth observation capabilities and its scientific partnership with France. The mission will provide valuable tools for improving agricultural water efficiency, understanding environmental change and supporting sustainable management of natural resources.

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Reference

1. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) — TRISHNA Mission: Advancing High-Resolution Thermal Imaging for Climate and Resource Management. Published June 5, 2024.
   https://www.isro.gov.in/ISRO_EN/TRISHNA_Mission.html
2. Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), French Space Agency — TRISHNA: Mission Overview, Development Status and Launch Schedule. Official mission information, listing the planned launch year as 2027.
   https://cnes.fr/en/projects/trishna
3. CNES — TRISHNA: Satellite Platform and Scientific Instruments. Technical information on the French thermal infrared instrument and Indian optical imaging payload.
   https://cnes.fr/projets/trishna/plateforme-instruments
4. ISRO — International Cooperation. Official information on the Indo-French Megha-Tropiques and SARAL satellite missions.
   https://www.isro.gov.in/InternationalCoOperation.html
5. The Hindu, October 11, 2026 — TRISHNA Satellite Is in Advanced Stage of Realisation, Says ISRO Official. Report citing Jasvinder Singh Khoral, Director (Projects), U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, on the anticipated launch timeline.

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