ISAT-4B launch from French Guiana in March: Nair

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 15: Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair today said INSAT-4B satellite would belaunched from the Kourou island in French Guiana in the first week ofMarch.

''Final tests are being conducted on the satellite and it will bemoved to French Guiana by the end of this month,'' Mr Nair toldnewspersons here at the airport.

The INSAT-4B, the second satellite in the INSAT-4 series, wouldhave 12 Ku band and as many C band transponders for communication andbroadcasting services, especially the Direct-to-Home service.

Referring to the successful launch of the Polar Satellite LaunchVehicle C7 (PSLV C7), Mr Nair said all the four satellites put in theorbit by the PSLV C7 were in a good health. The pictures received fromthe Cartosat 2 satellite were in good quality.

The fully-indigenous Space Capsule Recovery Experiment(SRE-1) wasfunctioning smooth and it would be recovered from the space on January22, he added.

UNI >