KOUROU (French Guyana). Apr 3: India's Insat-2E multipurpose telecommunications satellite was successfully launched this morning from the Kourou Space Station in French Guyana marking a new milestone for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). reports PTI.
A European Ariane 42 P Rocket Carrying the 2250 kg satellite, the last of the Insat-2 series, blasted off majestically from the launch pad of the centre Spatial Guyanais here at 3:33 am (1ST) with a roar and a golden glow that lighted up the entire area.
The rocket, with two solidpropellant strap-on boosters, put the satellite into its geostationary transfer orbit 22 minutes after the launch. Six minutes later, the master control facility at Hassan. 180 km from Bangalore, took control of the satellite.
Initial tests of the satellite, a wholly indigenous effort, have been termed satisfactory.
"Everything went as per the plan. We have received first signals from the satellite at our Hassan centre. Insat-2E will significantly augment India's telecommunications and tele-
vision broadcasting facility, a beaming ISRO chief Dr K Kasturirangan said shortly after the launch.
The satellite is at present going around the Earth in an elliptical orbit with a perigee of 250 km and an apogee of 35,936 km. The satellite will be put through a battery of tests before it is placed at its final orbit, 36,000 km above the equator.
It was a text-book launch and marks one more step in the space partnership between India and Europe, chairman of the Ariane Space Agency. Jean Marie Lutton. said afterwards.
Insat-2E. built at a cost of Rs 220 crore, has 17-C-band transponders which can be used in telecommunications, television broadcasting and meteorological services.
These will provide 12.000 two-way voice links or broadcast 100 digitally compressed TV channels or suitable mix of both. The satellite can be up-linked from India. China. West Asia. Southeast Asia. Central Europe. Australia and southern parts of Russia.
The fact that 11 of the 17 transponders have been taken on lease even before launch of the satellite justified the confi-
dence we had. said Dr Kasturirangan.
The Insat-2E also carries for the first time an improved version of a very high resolution radiometer which will be used in imaging cloud coverage including cyclone formation and estimating and predicting rainfall. . ,
The charged coupled device camera, featuring for the first time in Insat series, would provide pictures of earth with ground resolution of 1 km by 1 km. This will assist in cyclone analysis, storm monitoring, rain and snow forecast.
The satellite, which has a life span of 12 years, was critical for ISRO as its earlier Insat-2D had to be abandoned two months after launch in 1997 due to technical snags.
ISRO has also announced that it will be building five more telecom satellites to vastly enhance the nation's capacity to handle telephone and data traffic.
The first satellite in the htst series on Ineat 3B, will be launched by Arlanespacc at Kourou in French Guyana in the third or fourth quarter of this year, according to ISRO Chairman.