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Chennai: India's
heaviest communication satellite GSAT-10 was successfully launched
by an Ariane-5 rocket from Kourou launchpad in French Guiana, ISRO
said Saturday. It would augment telecommunications, direct-to-home
broadcasting and civil aviation needs.
A statement issued by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
said the European Ariane-5 rocket injected the 3,400 kg GSAT-10
into an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) 30 minutes
and 45 seconds after the lift off.
French Guiana is in South America and Kourou is the European
spaceport there. Soon after the satellite was put into orbit
ISRO's master control facility at Hassan in Karnataka took over
GSAT-10's command and control functions.
According to ISRO, the preliminary health checks on the various
subsystems of the satellite, were performed and all the parameters
were found satisfactory.
Following this, the satellite was oriented towards the Earth and
the Sun using the onboard propulsion system. The satellite is in
good health.
The Indian space agency said over the next five days, the
satellite's orbit would be raised and place it in the
geostationary orbit around 36,000 km above the equator after which
the two solar panels would be deployed.
The satellite will be ready for operational use by November 2012
after successful completion of all tests. The GSAT-10 with an
operational life of around 15 years would be placed along with
INSAT-4A and GSAT-12 satellites, ISRO said.
GSAT-10 with 30 communication transponders - automatic receivers
and transmitters for communication and broadcast of signals- will
add to ISRO's existing own transponder capacity of 168. ISRO has
also taken on lease 94 transponders from foreign satellites.
The GSAT-10 also carries a navigation payload 'GAGAN' to provide
improved accuracy of global positioning satellite (GPS) signal for
the Airports Authority of India for civil aviation needs.
This is the second satellite in the INSAT/GSAT constellation with
GAGAN payload after GSAT-8, launched in May 2011, ISRO said.
The cost of the GSAT-10, including its launch and insurance, is
Rs.750 crore (over $135 million).
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