INSAT-3A, a multipurpose satellite built by
ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister o ...
was launched by
Ariane in April 2003. It is located at 93.5 degree East longitude. It is third satellite in
INSAT
The Indian National Satellite System or INSAT, is a series of multipurpose geostationary satellites launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to satisfy telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology, and search and rescue ope ...
-3 series after
INSAT-3B &
INSAT-3C. Built at a cost of $53 mn, it provides communication, weather, and search and rescue services.
Launch
INSAT 3A was launched by Ariane-5 launch vehicle of
Arianespace
Arianespace SA is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It operates two launch vehicles: Vega C, a Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift rocket, and Ariane 6, a Medium-lift launch vehicl ...
on April 9, 2003, at 22.52 UTC from
Kourou
Kourou (; ) is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It ...
,
French Guiana
French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...
. It was placed into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), 30 minutes after the lift-off in 3-axis stabilized mode, with a
perigee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values.
Apsides perta ...
(nearest point to earth) of 859 km and an
apogee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values.
Apsides perta ...
(farthest point to earth) of 36,055 km and an inclination of 1.99 degrees with respect to the equator. Its co-passenger on its launch was GALAXI-XII of
PanAmSat
PanAmSat Corporation was a satellite service provider headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1984 by Reynold "Rene" Anselmo, it operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news a ...
. Its
Master Control Facility
The Master Control Facility (MCF) is a facility set up by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in the city of Hassan in the Indian state of Karnataka. Established in 1982, this facility is responsible for monitoring and controlling ...
(MCF) is located at
Hassan, Karnataka (India).
It is 3-axis body stabilised in orbit using momentum and reaction wheels, solar flaps,
magnetic torquers
A magnetorquer or magnetic torquer (also known as a torque rod) is a satellite system for attitude control, detumbling, and stabilization built from electromagnetic coils. The magnetorquer creates a magnetic dipole that interfaces with an ambient m ...
and eight 10 N and eight 22 N reaction control thrusters.
Its propulsion system consists of 440 N
Liquid Apogee Motor MON-3 (Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen) and
MMH (MonoMethylHydrazine) for orbit raising.
The satellite raised its orbit to GEO and arrived in the 93.5 degree East longitude orbital location. It joined INSAT-3B and INSAT-3C which were already in orbit operating from a similar orbital location.
Payload
Communication payload
The INSAT-3A communications payload consists of:
* 12 Normal
C-band transponders (9 channels provide expanded coverage from Middle East to South East Asia with an EIRP of 38 dBW, 3 channels provide India coverage with an EIRP of 36 dBW and 6 Extended C-band transponders provide India coverage with an EIRP of 36 dBW).
* 6 upper extended C-band transponders having India beam coverage providing an EoC-EIRP of 37 dBW.
* 6
Ku-band
The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally ), because it is the lower part of the original NATO K band ...
transponders provide India coverage with EIRP of 48 dBW.
Meteorological payload
The INSAT-3A meteorological payload consists of
* A Very High Resolution Radiometer (VHRR) with imaging capacity in the visible (0.55-0.75 μm), thermal infrared (10.5-12.5 μm) and Water Vapour (5.7-7.1 μm) channels, provide 2x2 km, 8x8 km and 8x8 km ground resolutions respectively.
* A
CCD camera provides 1x1 km ground resolution, in the visible (0.63-0.69 μm), near infrared (0.77-0.86 μm) and shortwave infrared (1.55-1.70 μm) bands.
* A Data Relay Transponder (DRT) having global receive coverage with a 400 MHz uplink and 4500 MHz downlink for relay of meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic data from unattended land and ocean-based automatic data collection-cum-transmission platforms.
* A Satellite Aided Search and Rescue (SAS&R) SARP payload having global receive coverage with 406 MHz uplink and 4500 MHz downlink with India coverage, for relay of signals from distress beacons in sea, air or land. See also
Cospas-Sarsat
The International Cospas-Sarsat Programme is a satellite-aided search and rescue (SAR) initiative. It is organized as a treaty-based, nonprofit, intergovernmental, humanitarian cooperative of 45 nations and agencies (see infobox). It is dedica ...
.
Services
* Telecommunications
* Television broadcasting
* Meteorological
* Search and Rescue services
References
External links
ISRO website
Commercial arm of ISRO
{{Orbital launches in 2003
Spacecraft launched in 2003
Communications satellites in geostationary orbit
Weather satellites of India
INSAT satellites
2003 in India