GSAT-15, the mainly communications satellite being put in space next week, will replace two older spacecraft that will likely expire in the coming months.
Its 24 transponders are solely in the Ku band and will cater to DTH (direct-to-home) television first, besides supporting the thousands of VSAT operators who provide broadband services; and DSNG (digital satellite news gathering) for TV news channels.
GSAT-15 will not add new transponder capacity to the country; it will ‘ensure sustainability of service’for the capacity-hungry DTH sector, according to A.S. Kiran Kumar, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation and Secretary, Department of Space. It will also carry the third GAGAN satellite navigation transponder as a back-up for airlines and other users of augmented GPS-based systems.
GSAT-15, weighing 3,164 kg, will be launched in the wee hours of November 11 (IST) from Kourou in French Guiana (in South America) on the European Arianespace’s Ariane-5 launcher. The satellite cost and the launch fee are around Rs. 860 crore. GSAT-15 will be flown along with Saudi Arabia’s Arabsat-6B/Badr-7.
To be stationed over the country at a slot at 93.5 degrees East longitude, the upcoming satellite must quickly replace INSAT-3A and INSAT-4B that are completing their tenure — one in November and another later next year.
INSAT-3A, launched in April 2003, has completed its 12-year life. INSAT-4B, flown in March 2007, got reduced to half its functions in 2010 after one of its power-generating solar panels developed a snag.
