Isro completes second orbit raising of GSAT-14 successfully

Started at around 1055 hrs today morning, the liquid engine was fired for almost 44 minutes

After conducting the first GSLV-D5 Orbit raising maneuver on Monday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully completed the second round of maneuver on Tuesday.

Started at around 1055 hrs on Tuesday morning, the liquid engine was fired for almost 44 minutes.

“The Second Orbit Raising Maneuver of GSAT-14 has been successfully executed An incremental velocity of 824 m/s has been imparted to GSAT-14”, said Isro.

The initial data shows the orbit of GSAT-14 as 32,160 km Perigee (nearest point to earth) by 35, 742 km Apogee ( the farthest point to earth) with 0.6 degree inclination.

During the first Orbit Raising Operation the realised orbit was 8,966 km (Perigee, which is the nearest point to earth) by 35,744 km (Apogee, the farthest point to earth).

The orbit raising operations was conducted for the communication satellite GSAT-14, which was launched successfully launched through GSLV-D5 rocket, which used India's first indigenous cryogenic engine.

The third orbit raising is scheduled on January 9, 2014 to place the satellite in geostationary orbit.

On Sunday Isro successfully launched it's heavy-duty rocket - the Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch vehicle (GSLV). The GSLV5, carrying communication satellite GSAT-14 was launched from Isro’s spaceport at Sriharikota, about 80 kms from Chennai.

With the successful launch India joined the “Cryo Club”, a select club of spacefaring nations having the crucial cryogenic engine technology, which is necessary to carry heavy satellites up into space. The other countries include United States, Russia, France, Japan and China in the elite club.

After a flight of 17 minutes 5 seconds, GSAT-14 satellite was precisely injected into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a Perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 175 km and an Apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 35,945 km with an orbital inclination of 19.3 degree with respect to the equator.

Immediately after the injection, ISRO's Master Control Facility at Hassan took over the control and commanding of GSAT-14. The solar panels of the satellite were deployed as planned, the satellite health was found normal and the satellite was oriented towards the Sun.