Insat-3D is all set for July 25 launch

Any ship in distress n the Indian Ocean region will soon have one more source to disseminate its distress signals if in need or if in trouble. The Insat-3D of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a meteorological, data relay and satellite-aided search and rescue satellite is set to be launched on July 25.

The Insat-3D is equipped with a search and rescue payload (operating in 406 MHz) that picks up and relays the alert signals originating from the distress beacons of maritime, aviation and land-based users to the Indian Mission Control Centre (INMCC) located at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bangalore.

The major users of the Satellite-Aided Search and Rescue service in India are the Indian Coast Guard, Airports Authority of India, Directorate General of Shipping, Defence Services and fishermen. The Indian service region includes a large part of the Indian Ocean region covering India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Tanzania for rendering distress alert services.

A team from India, including scientists from the ISRO, are now in French Guiana overseeing the final preparations for the July 25 (between 1:23 am and 2:41 am IST of July 26, 2013) launch of the Insat-3D.

The Insat-3D will provide a continuity of service of Data Relay Transponder (DRT) which is presently carried by Kalpana-1 and Insat-3A. The IMD is expected to be the biggest beneficiary of the satellite. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) and ISRO have established over 1,800 data collection platforms.

“The final tests are now going on, on the satellite before its launch,” said senior level sources from the ISRO.

The Insat-3D Meteorological Data Processing System (IMDPS) of ISRO has taken up the responsibility of end-to-end reception and processing of Insat-3D data and derivation of meteorological parameters with the IMD, New Delhi. An indigenously designed and developed Insat-3D Meteorological Data Processing System (IMDPS) has been installed and commissioned at the IMD, New Delhi with a mirror site at the Space Applications Centre, Bhopal, Ahmedabad. IMDPS will cater to the processing of all data transmitted by the imager and sounder payloads.

The data archival and dissemination is through IMD, New Delhi, and Meteorological and Oceanographic Satellite Data Archival Centre websites. IMDPS comprises of three sub-systems — (i) Data Acquisition and Quick Look Display System (ii) Data Products System and (iii) Geo-Physical Parameter Retrieval System.

Meanwhile, according to Arianespace, which is launching the satellite aboard its Ariane 5 launcher, the final payload integration has been completed for Arianespace’s next heavy-lift flight, with the Insat-3D integrated atop the Ariane 5 launcher at the spaceport in French Guiana.

The full payload “stack”, consists of the Alphasat and INSAT-3D spacecraft. Encapsulated in its ogive-shaped protective fairing, Alphasat was lowered into place yesterday over the Insat-3D, which was installed atop Ariane 5’s cryogenic core stage during activity earlier in the week.