GSAT-12 to Launch Mid-July on PSLV

(ISRO) will launch its next communication satellite, GSAT-12, in the second week of July from the Sriharikota space center on a PSLV C-17 vehicle.On the heels of the successful launch of its communication satellite GSAT-8, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up to launch the next communication satellite GSAT-12 .

“GSAT-12 will be moved from Bangalore to Sriharikota on Thursday (June 2) for conducting various pre-launch tests. The assembling of the launch vehicle has also commenced. “After the failure of the GSLV rocket in December, ISRO has decided to put all of its focus on developing the cryogenic engines that powered Mark-2 launch vehicles.”

The GSAT-12 mission follows Ariane space’s successful launch of ISRO’s communication satellite GSAT-8 in May. GSAT-12, built at a cost of Rs.148 crore, has 12 transponders in an extended C-Band and will help users in the field of tele-medicine, tele-education, social services, etc. The launch vehicle was expected to cost about Rs.100 crore. The satellite had been put on 55 degree east of geo-station orbit on Wednesday. Users of some of the decommissioned satellites would be moved to this, he said.

GSAT-8 satellite services would be available for users by the end of June following three weeks of in-orbit transponders tests currently underway.

India will launch five satellites by June, including one for advanced remote sensing and two for communications, say officials of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The first launch, scheduled for April 2011, will be of Resourcesat-2, intended for study and management of natural resources and sending back pictures and other data, and two other satellites.

India has the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites in the world providing imagery in a variety of spatial resolutions from better than a metre ranging up to 500 metres, and is a major player in vending such data in the global market.

ISRO will then launch two communication satellites – GSAT-8 from French Guyana and GSAT-12 from India – by June this year. These will serve the needs of the telecommunication and television sectors.

An ISRO official, GSAT-8 will augment the growing demand for communication transponders (automatic receivers and transmitters for communication and broadcast of signals).

With India in the process of developing a rocket that could carry a three-tonne satellite, GSAT-8 will be launched by Ariane rocket from French Guyana this May 2011.

Following that will be the launch of GSAT-12 using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from ISRO’s rocket port at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80 km from Chennai this July 2011..

Weighing 1,425 kg, GSAT-12, with 12 extended C band transponders, is expected to be launched in July 2011.

The satellite is expected to serve the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) sector, used to transmit data like point of sale transactions or to provide satellite internet access and others.

Though PSLV rockets are largely used by ISRO to launch remote sensing/earth observation satellites, it has also been used to put into orbit communication satellites in geo transfer orbit (GTO).

According to ISRO officials, the PSLV rocket that will carry GSAT-12 will weigh over 300 tonnes – heavier than the standard PSLV rocket that weigh around 290 tonnes at lift off.

The rocket will be powered with much longer strap-on motors containing more fuel.

ISRO is also mulling the launch of another remote sensing satellite, Megha-Tropiques in July, to study and understand the life cycle of convective systems and their role in the associated energy and moisture budget of the atmosphere in the tropical regions.

The PSLV that will carry three satellites – the 1,200 kg Resourcesat-2 satellite, the 92 kg joint Indo-Russian nanosatellite Youthsat for stellar and atmospheric studies, and a 105 kg microsatellite X-sat for imaging applications, built by the Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University.

Not wanting to risk a failure, the Indian space agency decided to test a gas motor fitted in the second stage/engine, powered by liquid fuel, for high temperature tolerance levels after dismantling the fully assembled rocket.

This was the second time within an year that ISRO has dismantled a fully-assembled PSLV rocket to check out a component in the rocket’s second stage.

Last April, prior to the launch of Cartosat-2B satellite and a couple of other payloads, the rocket was dismantled to replace a faulty component.

The 44-metre tall PSLV is a four-stage (engine) rocket powered by solid and liquid propellants alternatively. The first and third stages are fired by solid propellant and the second and fourth stages are fired by liquid propellant.

India to launch 12 foreign satellites too
India has bagged multi-million dollar contracts to launch 12 foreign satellites in the lower orbit from its spaceport over the next two years, a top space agency official said Wednesday.

"Through our commercial arm Antrix Corporation, we have received orders from Canada, Indonesia, Germany and other European countries to launch a dozen satellites in the sun-synchronous orbit during the next two years," state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan told.

Of the 12 satellites, four are from Canada, two each from Indonesia and Germany and one from Luxembourg. The remaining three spacecraft are from universities in Europe.

"We have an order from Germany to launch an 800-kg dedicated satellite (N-Map) for environmental studies. The other satellites, weighing between 80-100 kg will be launched on board our polar satellite launch vehicles (PSLVs) as additional payloads along with Indian communications or remote-sensing satellites," an Antrix official said.

Antrix is also in negotiations with France to launch a remote sensing satellite (EnMAP) in the lower orbit.

India has already launched a total of 26 foreign satellites during the past decade for various countries, including Germany, Italy, Israel, Korea and Singapore.