India and France jointly building 3rd satellite

India and France are working on building the third Indo-French satellite designed for climate change studies, a senior French official said on Thursday. "We are preparing the third Indo-third French satellite. We have already launched one (Megha-Tropiques) in 2011 and the second (SARAL-AltiKa) in 2013," Counsellor (Space), Embassy of France in India, Mathieu J Weiss, told a news agency after French Ambassador to India Francois Richier and his delegation met ISRO Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan in Bangalore.  The new satellite being built jointly by Indian Space Research Organisation and National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) of France would be a state-of-the-art satellite for earth observation for climate change, Weiss said.

Scientists from both countries have been deliberating on the structure of the satellite for more than one year, the French official said.  The final shape to the proposed project is scheduled to be given by next March when Indian and French scientists will hold a "big" meeting in France, Weiss said.

The satellite is expected to give France and India a complete spectrum of data which could be shared with already existing Indian satellites and French satellite like SPOT-7 which will be launched on India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket this year, Weiss said.  "India is the one of the most important countries of cooperation for France. Both countries have plenty of things to do together," he added.