After the success of Chandrayaan 1 in 2008, India's Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch an exclusive weather satellite jointly with the French space agency CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) in December 2009.

It is learnt that the satellite, named as 'Megha Tropiques' will study the tropical atmosphere and its associated phenomena. The satellite would help both the countries to study the cyclones, monsoon and other changes. Apart from launching 'Mehga Tropiques', ISRO would also launch the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS).

Speaking on this, ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair said, “It is a joint agreement between France and ISRO. Some instruments are made by French people and some we are doing it. By the end of the 2009, it would be launched. This satellite will provide lot of inputs for weather modulates and near time weather forecast and so on.”

He further added that the satellite would be operated by ISRO and both the countries (India and France) would share data.

It may be here recalled that both ISRO and CNES has singed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2001 for the design of a joint satellite mission.

Earlier, ISRO had declared that it would send a robot on moon in 2012 and a spacecraft to Mars the following year (2013) which will also see an Indian astronaut in space.