Chennai: India’s telecommunication satellite GSAT-30, developed by ISRO, will be launched by Ariane Space Launch Vehicle VA251 from Kourou in French Guiana on 17 January. Ariane Space in a release said the launch will take place between 2.35 am and 4.30 am early morning on 17 January.
Along with 3,357 GSAT-30, another telecommunciation satellite EUTELSAT KONNECT for operator Eutelsat would also be launched by Ariane Space in its initial flight of the year 2020.
The total duration of the mission would be 38 min, 25 secs and the satellites would be placed in the Geostationary orbit with a perigee of 250 km and apogee of 35,761 km with an inclination of six deg.
This would be 107th Ariane 5 mission as the company celebrates 40 years since its creation. The Launch Readiness Review (LRR) will take place on 14 January in Kourou to authorize the start of operations for the final countdown.
The launch of GSAT-30 comes in the backdrop of the launch of GSAT-31 for ISRO one year ago. GSAT-30 is a telecommunications satellite designed and made by ISRO.
To be positioned at a longitude of 83 deg East, it will provide high-quality television, telecommunications and broadcasting services over Indian mainland and Islands.
GSAT-30, which was installed on Ariane5 launch vehicle, would ensure continuity of service for India’s INSAT 4A.
GSAT-30 is configured on ISRO’s enhanced I-3K platform to provide communications services from geostationary orbit in C-and Ku-band for a lifetime greater than 15 years.
Though ISRO has its own heavy rocket GSLV-Mk III, which has the capacity to carry satellites weighing four tons, it has chosen Arianespace to launch the 3.3 ton GSAT 30.
Since the launch of India’s APPLE experimental satellite on Ariane Flight L03 in 1981, Arianespace has orbited 23 satellites and signed 24 launch contracts with the Indian space agency.
EUTELSAT KONNECT will offer total capacity of 75 Gbps and by next autumn will allow the operator to provide Internet access services for companies and individuals alike at up to 100 Mbps.
The satellite will help to fight against the digital divide by bringing broadband Internet across 40 countries in Africa and 15 countries across Western Europe.
In Africa EUTELSAT KONNECT will aos, through the establishment of public Wi-Fi terminals, share Internet access between several users, marketed in the form of coupons that can be paid via mobile phone.
The new EUTELSAT KONNECT satellite features all-electric propulsion and operates in Ka-band. It is the first to use Thales Alenia Space’s all-electric Spacebus NEO platform, developed under the Neosat Partnership Project conducted by the European and French space agencies (ESA and CNES).