Friday, August 30, 2013

Navy\'s first satellite GSAT-7 now in space



August 30, 2013(7STAR NEWS):-GSAT-7, the country\'s first advanced and full-fledged military communications satellite, was launched in the early hours of Friday from the Kourou space port of French Guiana space in South America. The multi-band spacecraft, to be used exclusively by Indian Navy, was put in orbit on a European Ariane 5 rocket at 2 a.m., Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said after the launch. It is also the last of ISRO\'s fourth-generation series of seven satellites.



GSAT-7/ INSAT-4F is expected to significantly improve the country's maritime security and intelligence gathering in a wide swathe on either coasts of the Indian Ocean region.



About 34 minutes after take-off, Ariane-5 placed the spacecraft precisely in the intended temporary oval or geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) in space.



In a post-launch address at Kourou, ISRO Satellite Centre Director S.K. Shivakumar said the satellite would be functionally readied by September-end. Scientists at the Master Control Facility in Hassan, about 100 km from Bangalore, unfurled the power-generating solar panel of the satellite within a few minutes of its being placed in space. Dr. Shivakumar said payload operations would begin in a week.



ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan is at Hassan for the first of the three orbit manoeuvres around 2 a.m. on Saturday.



\"Initial checks have indicated normal health of the satellite. The present orbit will be gradually increased to an altitude of 36,000 km and placed in a geostationary [Earth-fixed] orbit by September 4,\" ISRO said.
News From: http://www.7StarNews.com

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