In the second orbit-raising manoeuvre, the Liquid Apogee Motor on board India’s advanced communication satellite GSAT-8 was fired for nearly 36 minutes on Monday by commanding the satellite from ISRO’s Master Control Facility, Hassan.
With the LAM firing conducted at 12:22 p.m. for 35.8 minutes, GSAT-8 perigee (closest point to Earth) has been raised to 32,385 km. The apogee (farthest point to Earth) height remains at 35,768 km. The inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced to 0.06 degree.
“GSAT-8 now has an orbital period of 22 hours 29 minutes. The satellite will now be in the continuous radio visibility of MCF, Hassan”, the Bangalore-headquartered ISRO said.
GSAT-8 was launched by the European Ariane-5 launch vehicle on May 21 from Kourou, French Guiana. The launch vehicle had placed GSAT-8 in an orbit with a perigee of 258 km and apogee of 35,861 km with an inclination of 2.5 degree with respect to the equatorial plane.
With the first orbit raising manoeuvre carried out from MCF, Hassan on Sunday, GSAT-8 had been put in an intermediate orbit of 15,786 km perigee and 35,768 km apogee and the orbital inclination was reduced to 0.5 degree with respect to the equatorial plane.
The next orbit raising manoeuvre to place the satellite in near geosynchronous orbit is planned for Tuesday. Deployment of the two solar panels and the two antennas would be carried out subsequently, ISRO said.
