The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-F06, carrying India’s latest communication satellite GSAT-5P blasted off from Sriharikota on Saturday.

The Rs. 125-crore advanced communication satellite GSAT-5P, weighing 2,130 kg, will ensure continuity of telecom, television and weather services after an earlier satellite is retired.


The GSLV-F06 blasted off at 4.04 p.m. from the the Sriharikota rocket launch centre, about 80 km from Chennai.


The satellite will serve the needs of the telecommunication sector and the weather department. It will eventually retire the INSAT-2E satellite that was sent up in 1999.


The GSLV rocket has three stages. The first stage is fired by solid fuel. The four straps on motors give additional thrust during the lift-off and the initial phase of the rocket’s flight.


The second stage is fired by liquid fuel. The third stage, which is more complex than the others, involves the cryogenic engine powered by liquid hydrogen as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidiser.


The GSLV rocket is 51 metres tall and weighs 418 tonnes.
The GSAT-5P satellite, with a life span of over 13 years, has 36 transponders — automatic receivers and transmitters for communication and broadcast of signals. Its successful launch will take the agency’s transponder capacity to about 235 from the 200 currently in the orbit.


ISRO has the following communication satellites in service — INSAT 2E, INSAT 3A, INSAT 3B, INSAT 3C, INSAT 3E, INSAT 4A, INSAT 4CR and INSAT 4B working at 50 per cent capability.
ISRO launched two major satellites in 2010 — communication satellite GSAT-4 and remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2.
The GSAT-4 launch failed after the rocket crashed into the Bay of Bengal while Cartosat-2 was placed successfully in the orbit.






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