India’s one of the latest communications satellite, GSAT-31, was successfully launched by the European launch service provider, the Arianespace rocket from French Guiana.
Taking off from the Ariane Launch Complex in Kourou, which is a French territory located on the northeast coast of South America at 2.31 am (IST). The Ariane-5 vehicle injected GSAT-31 into orbit in a flawless flight that lasted approximately 42 minutes. .
“The successful launch of the GSAT-31 spacecraft aboard the Ariane-5 is my great pleasure,” said S Pandian, Director of the Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC) of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), in Kourou shortly after launch.
“Congratulations to Arianespace on the successful launch and accurate injection of the satellite into orbit,” he added.
GSAT-31 is a “high-power” Ku-band communications satellite, and it will serve and replace some of the satellites that are due to expire soon, he added.
The Ariane-5 vehicle (Flight VA247) who is also carried the Saudi geostationary satellite 1 / Hellas Sat 4 along with the GSAT-31.
GSAT-31 separated from the Ariane-5 in an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit with a perigee (closest point to Earth) of 250 km and an apogee (furthest point from Earth) of 35,850 km, inclined at an angle of 3.0 degrees relative to the equator, ISRO said in a statement after launch.
After the separation of Ariane-5, the two solar panels of GSAT-31 were automatically deployed in rapid succession and the ISRO Master Control Facility at Hassan in Karnataka took over command and control of GSAT-31 and found its parameters of health were normal, he said.
In the coming days, scientists will undertake phased orbit lift maneuvers to place the satellite in geostationary orbit (36,000 km above the equator) using its onboard propulsion system.
During the final stages of its orbit lift operations, the GSAT-31 antenna reflector will be deployed, and after this, the satellite will go into its final orbital configuration, on that time space agency said, adding that the satellite will be an operational, after successful completion of all in-orbital tests.
The weight is approximately 2,536 kg, the Indian satellite GSAT-31 will provide continuity to operational services on some of the orbiting satellites.
India’s 40th communication satellite
The satellite derives its heritage from ISRO’s previous INSAT / GSAT series of satellites, the space agency said, adding that it will provide communication services to the islands and the Indian mainland.
GSAT-31 is the 40th communications satellite in the country that is configured on ISRO’s enhanced “I-2K Bus”, utilizing the maximum “bus capabilities” of its kind.
This satellite will increase the capacity of the Ku-band transponder in geostationary orbit, ISRO said.
With a lifespan of around 15 years, GSAT-31 will be used to support VSAT networks, television uplinks, digital satellite news gathering, DTH television services, cellular backhaul connectivity, and many similar applications.
It will also provide wide beam coverage to facilitate communications in a large ocean region, comprising large parts of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, using a broadband transponder.
According to ISRO, the satellite transmits two Ku-band beacon downlink signals for ground tracking purposes.
“GSAT-31 is uniquely configured to provide all flexible frequency segments & flexible coverage,” said ISRO President K. Sivan.
The GSAT-31 is very dynamic with next provision like- “GSAT-31 will provide DTH television services, VSAT connectivity for ATMs, stock exchanges, digital satellite news gathering (DSNG) and e-government applications. The satellite will also be used for massive data transfer for a number of emerging telecommunications applications, ”it said in a statement.
Riding in the upper position of the Ariane-5, HS-4 / SGS-1 was launched first in the flight sequence, and their separation occurred approximately 27 minutes after takeoff.
Now we can comprised of two payloads, the Saudi geostationary satellite 1 / Hellas Sat 4, also called HS-4 / SGS-1, is a geostationary condominium for KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology of Saudi Arabia) and Hellas Sat ( Greece Cyprus).
HS-4 / SGS-1 will provide telecommunications capabilities, including television, Internet, telephone and secure communications in the Middle East, South Africa and Europe, Arianespace said on its website.
GSAT-30 is another geostationary satellite that Arianespace will launch soon for ISRO.
“We will soon be returning to French Guiana in June-2019 and July to launch GSAT-30,” Pandian said.
