INSAT-3B has a smooth launch

The lift-off in the early hours of this morning was delayed by nearly 30 minutes due to lightning in the upper atmosphere and minor technical glitches. But once it took off, all went well.

INSAT-3B’s co-passenger on the ARIANE-5 flight, the ASIASTAR, a broadcast satellite belonging to US company World Space first separated from the launcher, some 28 minutes after take-off. Seven minutes later, INSAT-3B hived off into an egg-shaped orbit.

Almost immediately, the Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan, Karnataka, took over the controls. The satellite has begun receiving and responding to controls from MCF, ISRO officials said.

Three liquid apogee motor firings beginning tomorrow will push the satellite to a near-circular orbit around 36,000 kms above the Equator.

"A beautiful take-off… A majestic flight," was how a beaming Kasturirangan described the take-off.

The success of INSAT-3b is critical to India, as it is hoped that it will make up for the loss of transponders after the INSAT-2D satellite was abandoned two years ago.

The INSAT-3B is expected to cost the country around Rs 500 crore, including the Rs 276 crore bill for the Ariane launch and a Rs 65 crore insurance ticket.

The satellite, primarily intended for business, developmental and mobile communications, has been developed as a fast-track project to cater to the immediate requirement of the extended C-band capacity that was depleted due to INSAT-2D’s failure.

The Indian space establishment is pinning its hopes on the INSAT-3B satellite to provide additional bandwidth since the satellite would have 12 extended C-band channels, each having a bandwidth of 36 MHZ.

INSAT-3B, to be placed in orbit at 83 degrees East longitude, will boost Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services for use by business and financial organisations.

The VSAT services, begun less than five years ago, have proliferated with some 300 corporates, including banking and financial institutions, stock markets, white goods sector and medium to heavy engineering companies, among others, relying heavily on satellite services for business communications.

At present, seven transponders from INSAT-2B and INSAT-2C are being used. Once the INSAT-3B starts functioning, it will double the transponder capacity for VSAT services.

The transponders would also provide the communications network for the Swaran Jayanti Vidya Vikas Antariksh Upagraha Yojana or Vidya Vahini, a long-distance interactive education network, announced with great fanfare by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on August 15, 1998.

A comparatively new use in India for the transponders would be in telemedicine, which would help in diagnostics and extension of “super special” hospital consultancy services to the rural population.