INDIA'S
COMMUNICATION SATELLITE GSAT-16 LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY
India's communication
satellite, GSAT-16, was successfully
launched at 02:10 hrs IST today (December 7, 2014)
by the Ariane-5 launch vehicle VA221
of Arianespace from Kourou, French Guiana.
Ariane-5 precisely placed GSAT-16 into the intended Geosynchronous Transfer
Orbit (GTO), after a flight of 32 minutes and 20.4 Seconds duration.
ISRO's Master Control
Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka started acquiring the signal from the
satellite at 0241 hrs IST and the commanding of the satellite was initiated. Initial
checks have indicated normal health of the satellite.
The present orbit of
the satellite will be raised to Geostationary Orbit of about 36,000 km altitude
through three orbit raising manoeuvres by the firing of GSAT-16's Liquid Apogee
Motor (LAM) Engine. Preparations are underway for the first firing, planned in
the early hours of December 8, 2014. The satellite will be placed in the
Geostationary Orbit by December 12, 2014 and subsequently the satellite's
communication transponders will be switched on for in-orbit testing.
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