ISRO GSAT-30 Communication Satellite Successfully Inserted Into Orbit

The GSAT-30 was the 24th ISRO satellite orbited by Ariane-series launchers.

By Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: 17 January 2020 10:08 IST

ISRO GSAT-30 Communication Satellite Successfully Inserted Into Orbit

Photo Credit: ISRO

Arianespace launched GSAT-30 and Eutelsat Konnect into geo-stationary transfer orbit

Highlights

The Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from the spaceport in French Guiana
GSAT-30 will provide high quality TV, telecom, and broadcasting services
It also ensures continuity of service for the INSAT 4A satellite

The European space agency Arianespace opened its 2020 space missions account with a successful dual satellite launch - India's communication satellite GSAT-30 and Eutelsat Konnect - into geo-stationary transfer orbit on Friday early hours with its heavy lift of Ariane 5 rocket.

The Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from the spaceport in French Guiana.

The 3,357 kg GSAT-30 was produced by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

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Curiously, even though India has its own rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III (GSLV-Mk III) with a carrying capacity of four tonne, India used Arianespace to put into orbit its GSAT-30 weighing about 3.3 tonne.

The GSAT-30 will provide high-quality television, telecommunication and broadcasting services ensuring continuity of service for INSAT 4A satellite.

"This was an excellent start of 2020 with an excellent launch using Ariane 5 - the most reliable launcher, P. Kunhikrishnan, the Director of ISRO's U.R. Rao Satellite Centre was quoted as saying in the statement.

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"On behalf of the ISRO Chairman, I want to thank Arianespace for a wonderful and professional job - both in the preflight preparations and during the launch," he added.

By operating GSAT-30, ISRO will - once again - use space to help bridge the digital divide in the Indian subcontinent as part of its ambitious space programme.

Meanwhile, ISRO Chairman K. Sivan in a statement said: "GSAT-30 has a unique configuration of providing flexible frequency segments and flexible coverage. The satellite will provide communication services to Indian mainland and islands through Ku-band and wide coverage covering Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia through C-band."

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He added: "GSAT-30 will provide DTH Television Services, connectivity to VSATs for ATM, Stock-exchange, Television uplinking and Teleport Services, Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and e-governance applications. The satellite will also be used for bulk data transfer for a host of emerging telecommunication applications."

The GSAT-30 was the 24th ISRO satellite orbited by Ariane-series launchers, tracing the relationship back to India's APPLE small experimental communications spacecraft, lofted in 1981 by an Ariane 1 version, said Arianespace.

According to Arianespace, the Friday's successful launch kicks off its busy launch schedule in 2020, which targets a record mission count - with up to 12 opportunities identified from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana using Ariane 5, Soyuz or Vega; along with the maiden flights of Ariane 6 and Vega C; plus eight more from the cosmodromes at Baikonur and Vostochny.

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Arianespace's next launch - Soyuz Flight ST27, scheduled for early February - will orbit OneWeb constellation satellites from Baikonur.

This is to be followed by another February mission - Ariane 5's Flight VA252 from French Guiana - carrying JCSAT-17 for SKY Perfect JSAT and GEOKOMPSAT 2B for the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

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