India’s heaviest satellite GSAT-10 launched successfully
29 Sep 2012
Advanced communication satellite GSAT-10, India's heaviest satellite to date, was successfully launched early today on board Ariane-5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana in South America.
The satellite is designed to augment telecommunication, direct-to-home broadcasting and radio navigation services.
At the end of a smooth countdown lasting 11 hours and 30 minutes and a flight of 30 minutes and 45 seconds, the Ariane-5 ECA rocket injected GSAT-10 into an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), very close to the intended one, the Indian Space Research Organisation said in a statement from its Bangalore headquarters.
At 3,400 kg at lift-off, GSAT-10 is the heaviest built by ISRO. The entire project cost Rs750 crore, including the cost of satellite, launch services by the European space consortium Arianespace, and insurance.
Soon after GSAT-10 was launched into space, ISRO's master control facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took over the command and control of the satellite and declared the launch of Indian space agency's 101st space mission a success.
"The satellite is in good health" after checks on various subsystems of the spacecraft, with all its parameters satisfactory, ISRO said.