“It is not enough to give birth to a baby you must also be able to hear its heart beat. The next few days will be crucial. We will be stabilising the satellite in a geostationary orbit and that requires extremely delicate handling,” said ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan after the GSAT-8 was successfully launched by Ariane 5 from here.
He told The Hindu : “This is another great moment for us. We lost two satellites last year in two unsuccessful GSLV missions, so this in a sense makes up for that loss. The GSAT-8 is the heaviest and most powerful satellite we have ever built and Indians will be looking forward to the applications the satellite can provide such as the GPS Navigational system.”
T.K. Alex, Director of the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore, said: “Of course, we are monitoring the satellite firing the required boosters so that it is properly positioned into place and making sure we guide it to the exact spot where it is to be permanently located. There is already another satellite in that position.
“For us, we cannot really see it from earth except as a dot. So we have to configure it in a figure of eight so that it cohabits harmoniously with its neighbour. It will take sever days before we open the solar panels. The story is not over yet. In fact, the story never ends because you need constant monitoring until the very end of the satellite's life.”
On Friday, the launch vehicle with the two “passengers” already securely lodged in its nose fairing was “rolled out” from the BAF or final assembly building. Vertically positioned, held in place by its two booster rockets and the cryogenic arms of the “umbilical tower” that keeps the satellites cool, fills the tanks with liquid oxygen and hydrogen which have to remain at a temperature of minus 250° Celsius, the launch table or “palette,” a gigantic reinforced steel structure mounted on 32 wheels resting on a rail track was towed to the launch site 2.8 km away. Travelling at a maximum speed of 5 km per hour, the rocket, stood out against the dense green surrounding equatorial jungle.
The ISRO officials gave the cost of the entire operation — the manufacture of the satellite and the launch charges as Rs.675 crore. Asked about the breakdown of launch charges, insurance costs and the actual cost of the satellite, Dr. Alex said he did not have exact figures at hand. “But we negotiate the price for each launch. We are an old customer – this is our 14th launch with Arianespace and we are able to get substantial reductions,” he said.
“The Indians are ace negotiators. It takes long for a project to get off the ground — this contract dates back to 2007 — but it always works out in the end. Although I cannot give you exact figures, a ballpark figure would be about $70 million. Certainly, they are given a good price because we are keen for this association to continue. And then, because the Ariane is considered the most reliable launcher in the world, insurance costs are lower. Normally, it is about 5.5 per cent of the cost of the satellite and the launch price but you can add on several options to cover transponder failure or a failure to deploy solar panels etc. So the insurance costs can vary greatly,” Sebastien Dumenil, Sales Director of Arianespace, told The Hindu .
The French are also aware that India is working on perfecting its GSLV rocket and that in a decade or so India might not be using the Ariane launchers. “Who knows? We have factored in India's indigenous capacity into our calculations. Since satellites are growing bigger and heavier that might take some time. But in the future we could become partners rather than customer and client. The Indians have already worked with us on building and launching third country satellites on two occasions. So the cooperation will continue. It might just take another form,” he said.
