Preparations on to launch Insat-3b by mid-March

Preparations on to launch Insat-3b by mid-March
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

BANGALORE, FEB 23: Brisk work is on at Arianespace Spaceport, Kourou, in French Guyana, to meet the mid-March deadline of launching Insat 3b, first of the third generation Indian national satellite, along with Asia Star of the world space by the latest Ariane-5 vehicle.

Though the launch window has been fixed between March 14 and 21 the spaceport controllers have only five days to consider since the launch would be impossible between March 16 and 18 in view of moon interference, Insat programme director Rangarajan told newsmen here on Wednesday night. If not launched during the early phase it might have to wait for a date on or after March 19, he added. Mission manager Jean Francois Laumonier of Ariane Space, who was also present, said the fuel filling operations of the Ariane 505 flight was on and simultaneously both the satellites were being prepared for the launch with the final tests being carried out at the launch site. Though unable to give a specific date for the launch, he said Arianespace would try to keep up the schedule.

Insat 3b would be the seventh Indian satellite to be launched by Ariane space and one more (Insat 3a) is on the cards for launch during early 2001. Asked about Insat 3c, whose fabrication had already been initiated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Mr Laumonier and Arianespace Director for Sales and Marketing Didier Aubin said the contract had not been signed yet. Perhaps ISRO was waiting for the success of Ariane 505 flight before firming up the launch order, they added.

Dr Rangarajan said demand for communication transponders was on the rise and all the 12 extended C band and three KU band transponders of Insat 3b were fully booked. The satellite also had a C X S band mobile satellite service transponder. The satellite, with a lift off weight of 2,070 kg, was airlifted to Kourou on February 1. Once placed in geostationary transfer orbit, the satellite controllers at Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan would fire the Apogee Booster Motor to shift the satellite to the geostationary orbit, where it would be colocated with Insat 2e at 83 degrees East Longitude.

On the launch profile, he said the satellite would be controlled by the MCF immediately on injection in view of the ideal trajectory of the launch. The Apogee Booster Motors would be fired thrice before allowing it to drift in the geostationary orbit during which period the solar panels and the reflectors would be switched on. Later, the payload would be tested for two weeks before the satellite could be declared operational.

ISRO, which had been relentlessly pursuing indigenisation programmes, was for the first time using an Indian made propulsion tank in Insat 3b. The satellite, for the first time, would also have two sided solar tracking solar arrays. Dr Rangarajan said the satellite had a design life of 10 years.

India had been waiting for the success of the first commercial launch of Ariane 5, the new launcher that would soon become the workhorse for Arianespace before Insat 3b could fly on top of it. Following the success of Ariane 504 flight which carried a German x-ray payload (XMM), Isro firmed up the next flight, Aubin said. The mid-March launch would be flight 128 of his company. Aubin who had been associated with Indian launches for more than a decade said some progress had been made with regard to the cooperation programme between the two agencies for the commercial use of the polar satellite launch vehicles for launching small satellites. Though no orders have been made so far, efforts were on in an advanced stage. The Arianespace was also eagerly waiting for the success of the Indian GSLV programme so that a similar cooperation understanding could be struck.

He said GSLV was not not being considered a competitor by the European space agency. On the contrary it would be only complementing the launches from Kourou. On Ariane 5, he said the heavylift European launcher was capable of putting six tonne class communication satellites into orbit. Work was on to increase the capacity of luanch to 12 tonnes by the year 2005.