Bangalore, Sept 28: After a month's delay, India's exclusive communication satellite Insat-3E was successfully launched in a precise mission by European Ariane 5 rocket from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana, giving a boost to telecommunication and television services. Carrying three payloads in clear weather, Ariane 5 injected the 2775 kg Insat-3E into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) in the 29 minute of its flight in a multi-step intricate mission, Arianespace and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sources said.
Two other satellites -- E-bird for Europe's Eutelsat and Smart-1 for the European Space Agency -- were also launched by Ariane on board its 162nd flight with Insat-3E being the highest payload.
Soon after its injection into space, the Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took control of Insat-3E whose performance was described as "normal" by ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair in his remarks after witnessing the launch.
"It (Ariane 5) has put Insat-3E into precise orbit,” said Nair, who took over as ISRO chief about a month ago from Dr K Kasturirangan, following his nomination to the Rajya Sabha.
Insat-3E was slated for launch in august but a quality alert from a Japanese firm, which supplied the components, had forced ISRO to retest its components, causing the delay.
Announcing that MCF had acquired signals from Insat-3E, Nair said, "We hope we will be able to complete the remaining operations and make it a grand success for the national programme.”
Bureau Report