Kalam to dedicate INSAT 4B to nation on Jun 8

Bangalore, May 28: President A P J Abdul Kalam will dedicate the latest Indian communication INSAT 4B to the nation on June 8 at Indian Space Research Organisation's Master Control Facility in Hassan.

This was disclosed to newsmen by ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair after the launch of the state-of-the-art interactive VSAT Channel of EDUSAT network of the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum by Karnataka governor T N Chaturvedi at the Raj Bhavan here today.

INSAT 4B was launched onboard an Ariane five launcher on March 12 this year. It carried 12 high power Ku band transponders and 12 C band transponders. The satellite was currently at its orbital home of 93.5 degrees east longitude where it was co-located with INSAT 3A Mr Nair said that preparations were on for the launch in September this year of INSAT 4CR, a substitute for the INSAT 4C that met a watery grave in the Bay of Bengal on July 10 last year following the failure of the second operational flight of GSLV.

He said the Ku Band transponders of INSAT 4B and 4CR would augment the DTH capacity in the country.

On Chandrayan mission, he said the Satellite was being built at the ISRO satellite centre here for its scheduled launch in 2008-09.

UNI