ISRO had successfully deployed the India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, equipped with the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), successfully launched GSAT-6, the country’s latest communication satellite, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
The launch took place from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota, the spaceport of India. This was the fifth developmental flight of GSLV and the third to carry the indigenous CUS. GSLV-D6 was intended to further test and qualify the CUS developed by ISRO.
The antenna is one of the most advanced features of GSAT-6 satellite and will be utilized for five spot beams over the Indian mainland, which exploit the frequency reuse scheme to increase frequency spectrum utilisation efficiency.
The satellite provides communication through five spot beams in S-band and a national beam in C-band for strategic users. The satellite’s life expectancy is nine years.
ISRO also said, the third orbit raising operation of GSAT-6 was successfully completed by firing the satellite’s onboard motors for nine minutes.
Soon after its injection into GTO, the two solar arrays of GSAT-6 were automatically deployed and the Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took control of GSAT-6.
In the coming days, GSAT-6’s orbit will be raised from its present GTO to the final circular Geostationary Orbit (GSO) by firing the satellite’s Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) in stages. The satellite will be commissioned into service after the completion of orbit raising operations, deployment of its 6 m wide sieve shaped unfurlable antenna, the satellite’s positioning in its designated orbital slot of 83 degree East longitude in the GSO and in-orbit testing of its communication payloads. Flight of GSLV underscores the success of ISRO in mastering the highly complex cryogenic rocket propulsion technology.
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