With Saudi co-passenger, ISRO's GSAT-31 will launch from French Guiana on Feb 6
Bengaluru, Feb 2: India with hard work and innovation, becoming one of the space powers in the world. ISRO announced another launch on Friday. India will launch her latest communication satellite onboard European launch service provider Arianespace launch vehicle on Friday, February 6th from French Guiana.
In the official statement, Arianespace said, the launch of Ariane-5 (VA 247) is scheduled for 2:31 am Indian time on Wednesday.
GSAT-31 is the 40th communication satellite of India which is configured on ISRO’s enhanced I-2K Bus, utilizing the maximum bus capabilities of this type. This satellite will augment the Ku-band transponder capacity in Geostationary Orbit. Weighing about 2535 kg, GSAT-31 will provide continuity to operational services on some of the in-orbit satellites.
The satellite derives its heritage from ISRO’s earlier INSAT/GSAT satellite series. The satellite provides Indian mainland and island coverage.
With a mission life of around 15 years, GSAT-31 will be used for supporting VSAT networks, Television uplinks, Digital Satellite News Gathering, DTH-television services, cellular backhaul connectivity, and many such applications.
GSAT-31 will provide wide beam coverage to facilitate communication over the large oceanic region, comprising large parts of Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, using a wideband transponder. According to ISRO, two Ku-band beacon downlink signals are transmitted for ground tracking purpose.
As per Arianespace report, Saudi Geostationary Satellite 1/Hellas Sat 4 will be the co-passenger of GSAT-31 during the launch.
GSAT-30 is another geostationary satellite to be lofted soon by Arianespace.
Since the launch of Indias APPLE experimental satellite on Ariane Flight L03 in 1981, Arianespace has orbited 22 satellites and signed 24 launch contracts with the Indian space agency.