India is all set to enter a new era of broadcast and communication with the launch of 3,025 kg INSAT-4B. India’s latest satellite is scheduled to be launched by an Ariane-5 vehicle of Arian space from Kourou, French Guyana. The final countdown will start at 4.25 pm on Saturday that will last for for 11 hours and a half. The scheduled time for the launch might be set on anytime between 3.55 am and 4.28 am on Sunday.
INSAT-4B is an indigenously built communication satellite and with its successful launch, the direct-to-home (DTH) television broadcasting services will get a major boost in India. According to an ISRO official, the successful launch would peep more dish antennae in the households in India as the satellite is armed with 24 high-power communication transponders to make communication much better.
The communication satellite will take 30 minutes to deploy in the geo-synchronous transfer orbit (GTO). Its perigee (nearest point to the earth) will be approximately 250 km from earth and an apogee (farthest point from the earth) of approximately of 35,886 km.
The satellite will reach to the height of 36,000 km in phases in a geo-synchronous circular orbit. Later, when it will be placed in the place, ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan, Karnataka will take control of the satellite.
The MCF will be responsible to send commands to INSAT-4B to send it to the final destination. Later, MCF would control the satellite to deploy its solar panels and antennae at different places to test the communication payloads on board.
The ISRO has built the satellite that will last for 12 years and the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad has provided the transponders in it.
India has been sent as many as 18 INSATs so far to the space. The INSAT journey had started with the launch of INSAT-1A. It was launched from the US on April 10, 1982 and the last, INSAT-4A, was launched on December 22, 2005 from Kourou.
Three other INSATs such as Kalpana, GSAT-2 and Edusat were launched from Sriharikota and the rockets those were used in the launching was completely ISRO-built rockets.
The INSAT series satellites have sparked a communication revolution in India by making people, living anywhere, able to talk to each other over phones. Now, the INSAT-4B satellite will boost the use of DTH services in India.
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