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Indian communication satellite GSAT-8 successfully launched

The 3,100 kg GSAT-8, primarily aimed at augmenting India's direct-to-home TV broadcast services, was hurled into space by European launcher in a 31-minute mission on Ariane 5 rocket's 44th consecutive successful flight.

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Giving a boost to its communication and TV broadcast services, India today successfully launched its advanced GSAT-8 satellite on board Arianespace rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.

The 3,100 kg GSAT-8, primarily aimed at augmenting India's direct-to-home TV broadcast services, was hurled into space by European launcher in a 31-minute mission on Ariane 5 rocket's 44th consecutive successful flight.

The Indian satellite, with a Japanese co-passenger ST2, was the second to be injected into the Geo Synchronous Transfer Orbit by the rocket which blasted off at 2.08 am (IST) from French Guiana, a region of France on the North-East coast of South America.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulated the Department of Space for the successful launch of GSAT-8. He spoke to Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Radhakrishnan over phone and conveyed his greetings

GSAT-8, which is expected to become operational in 4-6 weeks after being inducted into the INSAT system, is equipped with 24 high-powered Ku Band transponders to augment India’s Ku-band relay capabilities ?" particularly DTH services.

"This (the launch) is another great moment for us…," Radhakrishnan said in Kourou where his team watched the launch.

He said ISRO's Master Control Facility at Hassan in Karnataka has confirmed the reception of signals from GSAT-8 and taken charge of the command and control of the satellite immediately after its injection into the GTO.

The total cost of the GSAT-8 project is about Rs600 crore, including around Rs 250 crore for the spacecraft, more than Rs300 crore for launch services by Arianespace and over Rs30 crore towards insurance, ISRO sources told PTI.

Radhakrishnan said the user community in India is looking forward for the operationalisation of the 24 transponders into the Indian National Satellite system.

ISRO officials said the launch was doubly gratifying as the space agency had lost two satellites last year in unsuccessful missions of indigenous GSLV rockets launched from home soil.

After the successive failures, ISRO was desperately looking to augment transponder capacity to meet the growing demand.

"Currently, ISRO has 151 transponders providing a variety of services. Today’s launch of GSAT-8 will augment the transponder capacity with the addition of 24 Ku band transponders taking it to a total of 175," ISRO spokesperson S Satish said.

GSAT-8 has a mission life of more than 12 years and would be co-located along with INSAT3-E.

ST-2, built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Company, would be operated by the ST-2 Satellite Ventures joint company of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) and Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom Company Ltd.

Besides the transponders, GSAT-8 is configured to carry a two-channel GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) payload operating in L1 and L5 bands.

The GAGAN payload provides the Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS), through which the accuracy of the positioning information obtained from the GPS Satellite is improved by a network of ground based receivers and made available to the users in the country.

"Initial checks on the satellite have indicated normal health of the satellite", ISRO said.

Preparations are underway for the firing the onboard motor during the third orbit of the satellite at 03:58 hrs IST tomorrow as a first step towards taking it to its geostationary orbital home, ISRO added.

GSAT-8 is the 14th Indian satellite launched by Ariane family of vehicles during a 30-year time-frame -- the first being the Apple experimental satellite on Flight L03 in 1981.

Arianespace has so far put into orbit 13 Indian satellites. ISRO has already awarded to Arianespace a contract to launch its GSAT-10 satellite towards the end of next year.

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