ISRO’s first mission of the year! GSAT-30 satellite to be launched from French Guiana on January 17

New Delhi, January 14: GSAT-30, a communication satellite of India, is scheduled for launch onboard Ariane-5 launch vehicle (VA 251) from French Guiana on January 17 at 2:35 am IST. The launch of the communication satellite will be ISRO’s first satellite launch of the year 2020.

 

 

Weighing 3357 kg, GSAT-30 is to serve as replacement to INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage. The Indian space agency is collaborating with the European aerospace company Arianespace to launch GSAT-30 communication satellite. The satellite will be launched along with the European Space Company’s telecommunication satellite- Eutelsat Konnect. The launch will mark Ariane V launch vehicle’s 107th flight. The launch vehicle will first place the GSAT-30 in its designated orbit, followed by the release of Konnect. The full mission is expected to last for about 38 minutes and 25 seconds.

 

GSAT-30 will be extensively used for supporting VSAT networks, Television uplinking and Teleport services, Digital Services News Gathering(DSNG), DTH-Television services, cellular backhaul connectivity and many such applications. The communication payload of GSAT-30 is specifically designed and optimised to maximise the number of transponders on the spacecraft bus.

 

 

 

The satellite provides Indian mainland and islands coverage in Ku-band. It also provides extended coverage in C-band which helps Television broadcasters to beam their programs over India, Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia. The mission life is more than 15 years. 

 

The Indian space agency has planned to work on as many as 25 missions in 2020, including Chandrayaan 3 and Gaganyaan mission simultaneously. ISRO Chairman K Sivan, however, stated that the planning for the first unmanned mission, which was slated for this year, may slip over to next year.