Abstract. The Indian and French Space Agencies, ISRO and CNES, have conceptualized a space-borne Thermal Infrared Reflectance (TIR) mission, TRISHNA (Thermal infRared Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural Resource Assessment). The primary design drivers of TRISHNA are the monitoring of (i) terrestrial water stress and use, and of (ii) coastal and continental water. A suit of four TIR bands and six optical bands is planned. The TIR bands will be centred at 8.6 μm, 9.1 μm, 10.3 μm and 11.5 μm to provide noon-night global observations at 57m nadir resolution over land and coastal regions. The field of view (FOV) is ±34° and the orbit of 761 km altitude was designed to allow 3 sub-cycle acquisitions during the 8-day cycle. The optical bands correspond to blue, green, red, and NIR plus two SWIR bands at 1.38 μm and 1.61 μm. The green, red, NIR and the 1.61 μm SWIR bands will have better radiometry quality than those of AWiFS. ISRO and CNES will develop optical and TIR payloads, respectively. Assessing evapotranspiration and furthermore Gross and Net Primary Productivity (GPP and NPP) will in turn assist in quantifying water use in rainfed and irrigated agriculture, water stress and water use efficiency, with expected applications to agricultural drought and early warning, crop yield prediction, water allocation, implementation of water rights, crop insurance business and agro-advisories to farmers. The other scientific objectives of TRISHNA are also briefly described. TRISHNA instrument will fly aboard a ISRO spacecraft scheduled to be launched from 2024 for a minimum period of 5 years’ mission lifetime.