Bangalore: Indo-French space cooperation is expected to get a further fillip when French President Nicolas Sarkozy`s December 4 visit to Indian Space Research rganisation (ISRO) here where he is slated to interact with op scientists from across the country.
ISRO sources said the President, during his one-hour visit, is expected to be briefed about some of activities of the organisation as also about the Megha-Tropiques climate
satellite.
Sarkozy, accompanied by wife Carla Bruni, will start his our-day India`s visit from this IT hub with a brief stopover t the ISRO facility with which France has a long-standing
association.
France is collaborating with ISRO in developing two atellites for studying weather and climatic conditions.
Megha-Tropiques (Megha meaning cloud in Sanskrit and ropiques in French meaning Tropics),being jointly developed y ISRO and French National Space Agency (CNES), is expected o be launched by 2011 to study tropical climate.
Another ISRO-CNES mission to be launched next year is SARAL Satellite for Argos and Altika) for seasonal forecasting, ceanography and climate studies.
ISRO has been working closely with the Centre Nationale `Etudes Spatiales, CNES, and has a long-standing ollaboration. Several joint research projects have been undertaken by the agencies. Several scientists of both gencies have visited each others` facilities and exchanged iews.
PTI
