The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday refuted reports alleging that its INSAT-4CR satellite had "disappeared" for a while in space and later "brought back," reducing its ten-year life span by half.
"It's totally false and baseless. We totally deny it" - ISRO spokesperson S Satish
Here is one of the best-kept secrets of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro): Insat-4CR, launched by a geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-F04) on September 2, 2007, disappeared in space about a month later.
The satellite, which has 12 transponders meant for defence applications, direct-to-home (DTH) services and news gathering for television channels, was, however, spotted again with the help of the US-based National Aeronautics & Space Administration (Nasa) and brought back to a near geosynchronous orbit (36,000 km above earth). This took 15 days of manoeuvres, which consumed fuel normally meant for five years. This means the life of the satellite has come down from 10 years to five years. A satellites life is determined by its fuel supply. As it keeps drifting in space, it has to be propelled back to the desired orbit using precious fuel.
The INSAT-4CR satellite, launched early this month, will become operational by the end of this month, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G. Madhavan Nair has said.
INSAT -4CR has been successfully placed in near-geosynchronous orbit, the Press Information Bureau said here on Monday. Two antennas of the satellite, used for transmit and receive functions, too were successfully deployed and the satellite was put in its final three-axis stabilised mode.
India's newest communications satellite INSAT-4CR has been successfully placed in near geosynchronous orbit, the space agency said today. This was done during the fifth and final orbit-raising operation conducted from the Master Control Facility in Hassan yesterday, said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Subsequently, the satellite's two antennas, used for transmit and receive functions, were successfully deployed and INSAT-4CR was put in its final three-axis stabilised mode. The satellite is now located at 51.8 degrees E longitude and is expected to reach its final orbital position of 74 degrees E longitude by September 15.
The third orbit-raising manoeuvre on INSAT-4CR was successfully conducted at 4:35 am Indian Standard Time (IST) this morning (September 5, 2007) with the firing of the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board for 3140 seconds by commanding the satellite from Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka. With this LAM operation, INSAT-4CR perigee has been raised to 15,994 km. The apogee is at 35,385 km and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced from 11.1 deg to 3.24 deg. The present orbital period is 15 hours 52 minutes. The next Orbit Raising Manoeuvre is planned around 12:30 pm IST on September 6, 2007.
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-F04, had a successful launch today (September 2, 2007) at 18.20 hours from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota and it placed Indias INSAT-4CR into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). This was the fifth flight of GSLV and the fourth successful one.
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-F04, had a successful launch on 2 September from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota and placed India's communication satellite Insat-4CR into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). Insat-4CR was built to replace an identical satellite, Insat-4C that was lost due to the failure of GSLV-F02 in July 2006.