India has successfully launched its latest communication satellite GSAT-31 from French Guiana, the launch was carried out by European launch services provider- Arianespace's rocket during the early hours today at 2:31 am (IST).
The launch took place from the Ariane Launch Complex in Kourou, which happens to be a French territory located in the northeastern region of South America. The Ariane-5 vehicle pushed GSAT-31 into the orbit in a flight, which was as flawless as it could be and lasted for around 42 minutes.
The GSAT-31 is a communication satellite of high power which comes with Ku-band. The satellite will replace some of the old satellites that are to expire soon, as was said by the ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) Director S Pandian.
ISRO said, GSAT-31 successfully separated itself from the Ariane-5 in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a distance of 250 km from the nearest point of Earth and 35,850 km distance from the farthest point to Earth.
After the separation, the two solar arrays of GSAT-31 automatically were deployed in quick succession. The health parameters of GSAT-31 were found normal by ISRO.
In the coming days, scientists at ISRO will be undertaking what is called as the phase-wise orbit-raising manoeuvres so as to successfully place GSAT-31 Geostationary Orbit, which is about 36,000 km above the equator with the help of its onboard propulsion system.
GSAT-31 weighs 2,536 kg, carries 4.7kW power and will help the in-orbit satellites by providing operational services. The satellite gets its heritage from the earlier INSAT/GSAT satellite series of ISRO and will provide beam coverage to the Indian mainland as well as the islands. The coverage also includes the water bodies of Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean
GSAT-31 is ISRO’s 40th communication satellite and has a mission life of 15 years. The satellite will support digital satellite news gathering, television uplinks, VSAT networks, cellular backhaul connectivity, DTH television services etc.
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