Expansionary Institute

India Ready to Launch Next Satellite (Dominionization),

India Ready to Launch Next Satellite

INSAT-3A getting ready for launch
By R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI APRIL 7. The final preparations are on for the April 9 launch of the newest and advanced Indian National Satellite, INSAT-3A, at the French Guyanese spaceport, Kourou.

Officials of the European Space Consortium, Arianespace, conducted a launch readiness review on April 5 for flight 160, the number accorded to the launcher that will carry two communications satellites — the INSAT-3A and the PanAmSat, GALAXY XII. The review included a readiness validation of the Ariane-5 G launcher, its two satellite payloads, an examination of the spaceports launch infrastructure and a final check on the down-range tracking network.
Today, the review team gave the green signal for moving the launcher and the satellites from the final assembly to the launch zone. The final countdown will begin on April 8, according to Arianespace.

The launch window is fixed between 4.19 a.m. and 5.00 a.m. (IST) on April 9 (22:49 hrs to 23:30 hrs GMT on April 8).

The INSAT-3A will be launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a perigee of 200 km and an apogee of 35,980 km. The Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan, Karnataka, will take control of the satellite as soon as it is launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.

In the following days, operations such as orbit raising manoeuvres — to take the satellite into the final Geostationary Orbit — deployment of solar arrays, antennas and solar sail, 3-axes stabilisation, etc., will be conducted from MCF. The satellite will be positioned 93.5 degrees East over the Bay of Bengal. The MCF will also carry out regular operations and control of the satellite during its design life.

The launch of INSAT-3A from Kourou will be telecast live by Doordarshan (DD-1) from 3.59 a.m. (IST) on April 9.
The INSAT-3A is a multipurpose satellite for providing telecommunication, television broadcasting, meteorology and satellite aided search and rescue services. It carries 12 C-band, 6 upper extended C-band, 6 Ku-band and one search and rescue transponders. The meteorological instruments consist of Very High Resolution Radiometer, a Charge Coupled Device camera and a data relay transponder.

After the launch, the five INSAT series in operation now — 2DT, 2E, 3B, 3C along with the MetSat — will have a total of over 100 transponders in the C, extended C and meteorological instruments, making it the largest domestic communication launch system in the Asia Pacific region, according to its builder, the Indian Space Research Organisation. INSAT- 3A is slated to be operational for 12 years.

Over the next two years, ISRO plans to launch the INSAT-3D and 3E before switching gears to launch the next generation satellites — the INSAT 4 series.

Sun Apr 13