ISRO's GSAT-18 satellite launched by European Ariane

India's GSAT-18 communication satellite was successfully launched by the European Ariane 5 VA-231 from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana on Thursday.

GSAT-18 will provide telecommunications services for India, strengthening Indian Space Research Organisation’s current fleet of 14 operational telecom satellites.

The Ariane 5 launch vehicle lifted off right on schedule at 2 am IST on Thursday. After a flight of 32 minutes and 28 seconds, GSAT-18 separated from the Ariane 5 upper stage in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 251.7 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 35,888 km, inclined at an angle of 6 degree to the equator.

The 3,404 kg GSAT-18 carries 48 communication transponders in C-band, upper extended C-band and Ku-band for providing various services to the country.

ISRO's Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took over the command and control of GSAT-18 immediately after its separation from the launch vehicle. Preliminary checks of the satellite revealed its normal health.

In the coming days, orbit raising manoeuvres will be performed to place GSAT-18 satellite in the Geostationary Orbit (36,000 km above the equator) by using the satellite’s propulsion system in steps.

After the completion of orbit raising operations, the two solar arrays and both the antenna reflectors of GSAT-18 will be deployed. Following this, the satellite will be put in its final orbital configuration, said ISRO.

GSAT-18 will be positioned at 74 degree East longitude in the geostationary orbit and will be co-located with the Indian operational geostationary satellites. Later, it is planned to experimentally turn on the communication payloads of GSAT-18. 

After the successful completion of all the in-orbit tests, GSAT-18 will be ready for operational use.

GSAT-18 is the 20th satellite from ISRO to be launched by the European space agency and the mission is the 280th for Arianespace launcher family.

ISRO, which has been dependent on Ariane-5 rocket for carrying its heavier satellites, is developing GSLV Mk III for this purpose.

Since the launch of the Apple experimental satellite on Flight L03 in 1981, Arianespace has orbited 19 Indian satellites, winning 86 per cent of the geostationary orbit launch contracts that the country has opened to non-Indian launch systems.