Nellore: India’s latest communication satellite, the 3,404-kg GSAT-18, which will bolster India’s telecommunications, will be hoisted into space on a massive Ariane-5 VA-231 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. The launch, scheduled between 2 am and 03.15 am on Wednesday, was postponed by a day due to heavy cross winds, according to sources.
The GSAT-18 will have 48 communication transponders to provide services in the normal, C, Upper Extended C and Ku bands. While the Ku band is for fixed and broadcast services, the C band is used for long-distance radio telecommunications, satellite transmissions, some Wi-Fi devices, some cordless telephones, and some weather radar systems. It also has a Ku band beacon to help ground antennae tune accurately to the satellite.
GSAT 18 will add to Isro’s current fleet of 14 operational telecom satellites. The desig-ned in-orbit operational life of GSAT-18 is about 15 years. After it is injected into a geosynchronous transfer orbit, about 36,000 km above the earth, control will pass on to Isro’s Master Control Facility at Hassan which will place the satellite in its space home.
Appendages such as the solar panels and antennae as well as three axis stabilisation devices will be deployed. GSAT-18 will be the 20th Isro satellite to be launched by Arianespace since the Apple experimental satellite in 1981.
GSAT-18 will be the second satellite to be launched by the Ariane-5 VA-231 rocket, the first passenger being the 6.4 tonne Sky Muster II, which will provide communication services in Australia.
Mr M. Nageswar Rao, project director of the space segment of the Indian Regional Naviga-tional Satellite System, said Isro had been paying special attention to produce and lau-nch communication satellites in quick succession in view of the requirement for 200 transponders to address the demand within the country.
Speaking to this newspaper Mr Nageswar Rao said Isro was gearing up to launch GSAT-19 on board GSLV Mark III from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in December. Isro is keen on doubling the transponder capacity within next two or three years, he added.
Communication satellite
- In a communications satellite, a transponder gathers signals over a range of uplink frequencies and re-transmits them on a different set of downlink frequencies on Earth.
- Among others, a majority of the banks, firms involved in direct to home services, television channels and newspapers have been availing the services of Indian communication satellites.
