ISRO puts GSAT-8 into geo-synchronous transfer orbit
23 May 2011
Bangalore: The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) GSAT-8 communication satellite underwent its first critical manoeuvre after being put into initial orbit by an Arianespace rocket early Saturday. The manoeuvre, carried out early Sunday, raised the position of the GSAT-8 by putting it into a geo-synchronous transfer orbit.
The successful operation was carried out by the Master Control Facility (MCF) of ISRO located at Hassan, Bangalore.
'The orbit-raising of the 1,426 kg (dry mass) of GSAT-8 was conducted in the wee hours by firing the 440 Newton liquid apogee motor onboard the spacecraft for 95 minutes from MCF at Hassan in Karnataka (about 180 km from here),' an ISRO statement said here.
Following the manoeuvre, the orbit of the satellite has been raised to 15,786 km at its closest point to earth (perigee) and 35,768 km at its farthest point (apogee).
'The inclination of the orbit along the equatorial plane has been reduced 0.5 degree from 2.5 degree when entering the orbit. The satellite will be moving in the present elliptical orbit in 15 hours and 56 minutes,' the statement noted.
The Rs260-crore GSAT-8 was launched into orbit onboard an Ariane-V rocket of Arianespace early Saturday from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana off the South American coast.
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