Launch authorisation board meets tonight on GSLV

Bangalore, July 6 (UNI) The Launch Authorisation Board for the launch of the second operational Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F02) will meet tonight at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota to give a final goahead to the July 10 launch that would hurl into Geostationary Transfer Orbit the two tonne fourth generation INSAT satellite INSAT 4-C.

ISRO sources told UNI that the 1638 hrs launch is likely to be telecast live to various Private Channels other than Doordarshan with ISRO providing feed to these channels, whose OB vans could be placed close to SDSC.

Soon after its injection into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), the solar panels of INSAT-4C would be deployed. In the subsequent days, the satellite would be manoeuvred to 36,000 km high Geosynchronous Orbit (GSO) by firing Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board the satellite. In GSO, INSAT-4C will be colocated with INSAT-3C, KALPANA-1 and EDUSAT at 74 degree East Longitude.

The sources said the launch preparation was on and the satellite had been integrated with the launch vehicle. Fuelling operations would take place over the next few days.

Weighing 2168 kg, INSAT 4C would be the heaviest satellite to be launched from SDSC after Edusat. It was the second satellite in INSAT-4 series. Its predecessor INSAT-4A was launched in December 2005.

INSAT-4C carried 12 high-power Ku-band transponders designed to provide Direct-To-Home (DTH) television services, Video Picture Transmission (VPT), Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and to serve National Informatics Centre (NIC) for its VSAT connectivity.

The satellite is designed for a mission life of ten years.

INSAT system, the largest domestic communication satellite constellation in Asia Pacific, was established in 1983. As many as nine satellites - INSAT-2E, INSAT-3A, INSAT-3B, INSAT-3C, INSAT-3E, INSAT-4A, GSAT-2, EDUSAT and KALPANA-1 - were currently in service with a total of 175 transponders in Ku-band, C-band and Extended C-band available for use besides instruments for meteorological imaging and data relay functions.

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