India’s homegrown communication satellite GSAT-31 was successfully by Arianespace’s- a European launch services provider- from the French Guiana earlier today.
The flawless flight, which lasted for about 40 minutes injected the GSAT-31 into the orbit from the Ariane Launch Complex at Kourou- a French territory along the northeastern coast of South America. The Ariane-5 vehicle injected the satellite into the orbit.
“It gives me great pleasure on the successful launch of GSAT-31 spacecraft on board Ariane-5,” Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) Director S. Pandian said at Kourou soon after the launch.“Congratulation to Arianespace on the successful launch and precise injection of satellite into the orbit,” he added.
GSAT-31: India’s 40th communication satellite:The GSAT-31 was launched into the orbit with the objective of providing communication services to Indian mainland and islands. The communication satellite is based on ISRO’s earlier satellite series INSAT/GSAT.GSAT-31 is the country’s 40th communication satellite which is configured on ISRO’s enhanced ‘I-2K Bus’, utilising the maximum “bus capabilities” of this type.
In a statement, ISRO said, “This satellite will augment the Ku-band transponder capacity in Geostationary Orbit.
The GSAT-31 is expected to have a mission life of about 15 years, and will be used for supporting VSAT networks, Television uplinks, Digital Satellite News Gathering, DTH-television services, cellular backhaul connectivity and many such applications.
“GSAT-31 has a unique configuration of providing flexible frequency segments and flexible coverage,” ISRO chairman K. Sivan said.
“GSAT-31 will provide DTH Television Services, connectivity to VSATs for ATM, Stock-exchange, Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and e-governance applications. The satellite will also be used for bulk data transfer for a host of emerging telecommunication applications,” he said in a release.
GSAT-31 separated from the Ariane-5 in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 250 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 35,850 km, inclined at an angle of 3.0 degree to the equator, ISRO said in a release after the launch.
