INSAT-4B power snag hits TV channels and telecom opeartions
10 Jul 2010
Scientists at ISRO yesterday were working to fix a power snag that switched off 12 transponders of the INSAT-4B communications satellite which cut of some television channels and affected telecom operations of some telcos.
A transponder is a device that receives a signal at one frequency and transmits it back at a different frequency allowing almost near-instantaneous transmission between distant points on the surface of the earth.
According to an Indian Space Reserch Organisation (ISRO) official the power glitch appeared to be similar to the one on W2M satellite built by space agency Communications in January.
He said the problem ISAT-4B seems to be similar to the one that affected
W2M satellite that ISRO built with EADS Astrium when in orbit. He added that it was good that the ISAT-4B satellite was under the control of ISRO so that efforts on setting fixing the problem could go on.
The 3.4 tonne W2M, the heaviest built by ISRO, launched by Ariane5 rocket from French Guyana in December 2008 developed a snag in its power supply sub-systems at the time of transfer to its intended orbit from the test orbit and Eutelsat later said the satellite was not available for service.
