ISRO gears up for controlled re-entry of decommissioned satellite MT1

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up for a challenging experiment of controlled re-entry of a decommissioned orbiting satellite on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.

An uninhabited area in the Pacific Ocean between 5°S to 14°S latitude and 119°W to 100°W longitude was identified as the targeted re-entry zone.

Megha-Tropiques-1 (MT1), a low Earth satellite weighing about 1000 kg was launched on October 12, 2011, as a joint satellite venture of ISRO and the French space agency CNES for tropical weather and climate studies.

"As a responsible space agency committed to safe and sustainable operations in outer space, ISRO proactively takes efforts for better compliance with the UN/IADC space debris mitigation guidelines on post-mission disposal of LEO objects", ISRO said.

ISRO added that the re-entry experiment of MT1 has been undertaken as a part of the ongoing efforts as this satellite with sufficient left-over fuel presented a unique opportunity to test the relevant methodologies.

-With inputs from PTI