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Insat-3E placed in intermediate orbit
Bangalore, Sept 29: In the first critical orbit raising manoeuvre carried out a day after its launch, India`s advanced communication satellite, Insat-3E, was placed in intermediate orbit today, Indian Space Research Organisation said.
Bangalore, Sept 29: In the first critical orbit raising manoeuvre carried out a day after its launch, India's
advanced communication satellite, Insat-3E, was placed in intermediate orbit today, Indian Space Research Organisation said.
Commanding the satellite from master control facility at Hassan in Karnataka, the 440 newton liquid apogee motor (LAM) on board the spacecraft was fired for 82 minutes, raising its perigee (closest point to earth) from 649 kms at the time of launch to 14,970 kms, an ISRO release said.
The apogee (farthest point to earth) remained at 35,900 kms and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced from 7 deg at the time of launch to 1.9 deg, it said. The orbital period is 15 hours 30 minutes. Insat-3E was successfully launched by European rocket Ariane 5 from the space port of Kourou in French Guyana in the early hours of Sunday, giving a boost to telecom and television services.
All systems on board the satellite were functioning "normally", the release said.
The satellite, it said, had gone out of visibility of MCF at 3 pm yesterday and came within its visibility at 2.24 am (IST) this morning. It would go out of MCF visibility again at 2 pm this afternoon and come within its visibility at 8.30 am tomorrow. Further orbit raising manoeuvres are planned in the next few days, the release said.
Bureau Report
The apogee (farthest point to earth) remained at 35,900 kms and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced from 7 deg at the time of launch to 1.9 deg, it said. The orbital period is 15 hours 30 minutes. Insat-3E was successfully launched by European rocket Ariane 5 from the space port of Kourou in French Guyana in the early hours of Sunday, giving a boost to telecom and television services.
All systems on board the satellite were functioning "normally", the release said.
The satellite, it said, had gone out of visibility of MCF at 3 pm yesterday and came within its visibility at 2.24 am (IST) this morning. It would go out of MCF visibility again at 2 pm this afternoon and come within its visibility at 8.30 am tomorrow. Further orbit raising manoeuvres are planned in the next few days, the release said.
Bureau Report