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

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

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

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

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

The fully-indigenous Space Capsule Recovery Experiment(SRE-1) was functioning smooth and it would be recovered from the space on January 22, he added.

UNI