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Freedom251 › Blog › CNES

What Is the TRISHNA Satellite and How Will It Measure Land and Water Temperatures?

By Freedom251 Team · · 9 min read

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TRISHNA is a planned joint Earth-observation satellite being developed by France’s CNES and India’s ISRO. Currently targeted for launch in 2027, it will map thermal infrared radiation from land and coastal water at roughly 60-metre product sampling, while a second optical instrument records visible, near-infrared and shortwave-infrared information. Combining those measurements should produce frequent maps of surface temperature and emissivity for water-stress, evapotranspiration, irrigation, coastal and ecosystem studies—but TRISHNA is not yet in orbit, and clouds and retrieval assumptions will affect what it can observe.

What TRISHNA stands for

TRISHNA expands to Thermal infraRed Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural resource Assessment. It is a cooperative mission of France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), designed to observe how Earth’s land and coastal surfaces heat and cool.

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CNES is responsible for the thermal infrared (TIR) instrument. ISRO is supplying the spacecraft platform and a visible/shortwave-infrared (VSWIR) instrument. CNES says development of the TIR instrument was entrusted to Airbus. The mission is listed as In development, so its launch date, final configuration and operational performance remain plans rather than on-orbit results.

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Current schedule and orbit

CNES’s current English mission overview gives a launch target of 2027. Older CNES material still contains a 2026 launch statement, and an ISRO workshop flyer used the earlier schedule. The newer date should therefore be treated as the current plan, not a guaranteed launch year; no exact launch day has been established.

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The planned orbit is sun-synchronous at about 761 kilometres, with a 12:30 p.m. descending-node local crossing time. CNES lists a five-year design lifetime. These parameters are useful for understanding lighting and repeat observations, but they can change before launch.

What the satellite will actually measure

TRISHNA will not point a thermometer at the ground. Its TIR camera will detect infrared radiation emitted by Earth’s surface. The amount and wavelength distribution of that radiation depend mainly on the surface’s physical temperature and its emissivity—how efficiently a material emits thermal radiation compared with an ideal blackbody.

Retrieval algorithms use the four thermal bands together with atmospheric information and calibration data to estimate land-surface or water-surface temperature and emissivity. The result is generally a surface “skin” temperature: the temperature of the uppermost radiating layer seen by the sensor, not the temperature several centimetres underground and not automatically the average temperature of an entire water column.

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The four thermal bands

Published band Why multiple bands matter
8.65 µm Samples the long-wave infrared emission pattern used in temperature and emissivity retrieval.
9.0 µm Adds spectral information that helps separate emissivity effects from temperature.
10.6 µm Works in the atmospheric window near 11 µm, where surface emission can be measured with comparatively lower atmospheric absorption.
11.6 µm Forms part of the split-window-style measurements used to correct for water-vapour effects.

CNES publishes an instrument observation range of −23 °C to +77 °C and a stated precision of 0.3 °C. Those are instrument specifications, not a promise that every retrieved pixel will have 0.3 °C accuracy. Surface type, atmospheric moisture, viewing angle, calibration, mixed pixels and cloud contamination can all make the final product less certain. The World Meteorological Organization’s OSCAR record describes the channels as four TIR bands spanning approximately 8.6–11.5 µm and specifically notes the use of channels around 11 µm for water-vapour correction.

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How a thermal-infrared satellite builds an image

Across-track scanning

CNES describes the TIR camera as a scanning-mirror system using a “push whiskbroom” approach. The mirror sweeps across the ground track, collecting one line of measurements at a time. As the spacecraft moves forward in its orbit, successive scan lines are assembled into a two-dimensional image.

The optical instrument’s different job

The VSWIR payload is not a second temperature camera. ISRO describes seven spectral bands covering visible, near-infrared and shortwave-infrared wavelengths; CNES’s technical description separates these into five VNIR and two SWIR bands. In pushbroom imaging, detector rows view the swath while the spacecraft’s forward motion supplies the along-track dimension.

Visible and infrared reflectance helps identify vegetation, bare soil, water, snow, ice and built surfaces. It can also indicate vegetation condition and other biophysical properties. That context improves interpretation of the thermal image: a hot pixel in a dry crop field means something different from a hot pixel on a dark roof or exposed rock. The two payloads therefore work as a complementary pair rather than two independent temperature sensors.

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Resolution: what “60 metres” means

CNES says the cameras provide about 57 m resolution at nadir (directly below the satellite) and about 90 m at the swath edge, with standard products sampled at 60 m. WMO OSCAR lists 50 m at the sub-satellite point, while a 2026 EGUsphere preprint describes 60 m TIR imagery. These figures use different conventions—native detector sampling, location within the swath and product-grid spacing—so they should not be treated as contradictory claims of one fixed pixel size.

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For a general user, “60-metre product sampling” is the clearest description. Analysts working with raw or geolocated data should check the product documentation for the actual ground-sampling distance at a particular scan angle. A pixel near the edge of the swath covers a larger ground area and is viewed obliquely, which can reduce detail and complicate temperature retrieval compared with a near-nadir pixel.

How often TRISHNA will revisit a place

CNES’s current overview says a location at the equator will be observed every three days. The mission’s field of view extends approximately ±34° from the ground track, so places at temperate latitudes can fall inside the swath on more frequent passes. WMO OSCAR similarly describes a three-day cycle for global land and coast coverage.

That three-day figure is not the same as an identical-angle repeat. CNES’s detailed mission page says the same point is revisited every eight days at the same viewing angle; between those repeats, the wide swath can observe the point from other angles. Viewing angle changes affect reflected and emitted signals, shadows, atmospheric path length and the amount of mixed terrain in a pixel.

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Revisit statement How to interpret it
Three days at the equator Approximate interval between observations in the broad acquisition geometry.
More frequent at temperate latitudes The ±34° field of view lets additional orbital passes include those locations.
Eight days at the same viewing angle Approximate interval for a comparable-angle repeat, useful for cleaner time-series comparisons.

Actual usable observations will also depend on clouds, acquisition planning, quality flags and the mission’s final operating policy.

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Can TRISHNA measure water temperature?

Yes—within its planned land-and-coast acquisition mask. Thermal infrared emission from a lake, river, estuary, enclosed sea or coastal surface can be converted into a water-surface temperature estimate when the pixel is clear of cloud and atmospheric effects can be corrected.

CNES describes coverage of continental surfaces, coastal areas extending up to about 100 km from shore, enclosed seas and the Mediterranean, the Arctic Ocean, and part of Antarctica. This is not a promise of uniform, high-resolution mapping of the entire open ocean. The mission is optimized for land and coastal applications rather than all-ocean operational monitoring.

What water-temperature patterns can reveal

Repeated thermal maps can show persistent warm or cool zones, fronts, river plumes, mixing patterns and thermal exchange between water and adjacent land. They may help scientists study coastal circulation, inland-water dynamics and the spread of a thermal plume. A temperature pattern by itself, however, does not identify a pollutant, a pathogen or a specific ecological cause. Those interpretations require local measurements and other satellite or model data.

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What the measurements are intended to support

Evapotranspiration and ecosystem water stress

Land-surface temperature is tied to the surface energy budget. When vegetation has adequate water, evaporation and transpiration can remove heat; when water is limited, stomata may close, evapotranspiration falls and the canopy can become hotter. Combining TIR temperature with VSWIR vegetation and reflectance information can support estimates of evapotranspiration and indicators of water stress across croplands, pastures, forests and urban ecosystems.

Those products are indicators and model-assisted estimates, not direct measurements of how much water an individual plant needs. Soil type, wind, humidity, crop structure, irrigation timing and cloud gaps all influence the relationship between temperature and water use.

Irrigation and water-resource management

Frequent, relatively fine-resolution observations could help identify fields or blocks that are consistently hotter than nearby areas, evaluate irrigation patterns and track changes in water use. Water managers could combine the maps with weather stations, field sensors, stream gauges and farm records rather than treating a single hot pixel as a stand-alone irrigation prescription.

Snow, ice, glaciers and permafrost

Thermal observations can distinguish changing surface conditions across snow, ice, exposed ground and frozen terrain. Time series may support studies of glacier surfaces, permafrost environments and seasonal melt. Optical bands add information about snow, ice and land-cover boundaries that temperature alone cannot provide.

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Urban and solid-Earth applications

Urban surfaces often have strong temperature contrasts caused by roofs, roads, vegetation and shade. TRISHNA’s planned observations could support studies of urban heat and ecosystem functioning. CNES also lists solid-Earth and atmospheric/climate applications. Thermal-anomaly monitoring around volcanoes and possible earthquake precursors are research possibilities, not dependable prediction services.

Important limits before using a TRISHNA product

  • It is not operational yet. CNES currently lists the mission as in development, with launch planned for 2027.
  • Clouds can block the measurement. Thermal and optical retrievals are sensitive to clouds; cloudy pixels may be missing or carry low-quality flags.
  • Surface temperature is not subsurface moisture. Soil moisture may be inferred indirectly from thermal inertia or energy-balance models, but TRISHNA will not directly probe underground water.
  • Temperature is not a diagnosis. A warm surface can result from drought, pavement, dark material, wind changes, topography or viewing geometry.
  • Resolution varies across the swath. The 60-metre product grid does not mean every raw observation has a 60-metre ground footprint.
  • Revisit numbers describe different geometries. A three-day opportunity is not an identical-angle three-day repeat; CNES gives about eight days for the same viewing angle.
  • Coastal pixels can be mixed. At a shoreline, one pixel may include land and water, making its temperature unsuitable for either pure surface.
  • Published precision is not universal product accuracy. The stated 0.3 °C figure applies to the instrument specification under defined conditions, not automatically to every atmospheric or surface situation.

How to interpret a future TRISHNA temperature map

  1. Check the product type and units. Confirm whether the layer is brightness temperature, retrieved land-surface temperature, water-surface temperature or emissivity.
  2. Read quality and cloud flags first. Exclude cloudy, saturated, geometrically unreliable or otherwise low-quality pixels before calculating averages.
  3. Record viewing geometry. Note scan angle, acquisition time and whether you are comparing near-nadir observations with edge-of-swath observations.
  4. Use the VSWIR context. Check land cover, vegetation condition, reflectance and water boundaries before assigning a cause to a thermal difference.
  5. Compare time series, not isolated pixels. A repeated pattern across several clear acquisitions is more informative than one unusually hot observation.
  6. Validate locally. Compare results with weather, field, buoy, river or station measurements when making management or scientific decisions.

What makes TRISHNA distinctive

Its planned combination of four-band thermal imaging, complementary seven-band VSWIR observations, approximately 60-metre product sampling and frequent land/coastal coverage is intended to narrow the gap between very detailed but infrequent thermal observations and frequent but coarser measurements. The useful comparison questions for any other thermal mission are the same: is the quoted resolution native or product-grid spacing, is the revisit identical-angle or wide-swath coverage, which thermal bands are available, what area is covered, and is the system already operating?

TRISHNA’s answer to those questions is currently: a planned four-band TIR sensor; a separate VSWIR instrument; roughly 60-metre product sampling with resolution changing across the swath; about three-day broad coverage at the equator and about eight-day same-angle repetition; and a land-and-coast-focused acquisition mask. Because the satellite has not launched, on-orbit calibration, delivered data latency and operational availability are not yet established.

Bottom line for readers

TRISHNA is a planned CNES–ISRO satellite that will infer land and water surface temperatures from four thermal-infrared bands, then use visible and shortwave-infrared observations to add land-cover and vegetation context. Its target combination of fine product sampling and frequent repeat views could make temperature-based studies of irrigation, evapotranspiration, ecosystem stress, inland water and coasts substantially more detailed. The measurements will still be weather-dependent estimates of the emitting surface—not direct readings of subsurface moisture, crop water demand or water quality—and the mission remains in development ahead of its currently planned 2027 launch.

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CNESEarth observationISROland-surface temperaturesatellite technologythermal infraredTRISHNAwater temperature

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