India's first education satellite launched

The first operational flight Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F01) perfectly launched the 1,950-kg Edusat into geo-synchronous transfer orbit (GTO) today from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

Addressing a press conference here, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair said, "GSLV-F01 was exactly launched at 4.01pm as planned, one of the most precision launches. The satellite reached the GTO, 17 minutes after its launch. Edusat is dedicated to revolutionise the educational system, there is a need to reach education to the remote parts of India which is planned to be given by this system."

"We thought of postponing the launch due to the heavy rains and bad atmospheric conditions last night, however, our meteorological department gave the go ahead to the launch today morning at 9.30 am, he added.

GSLV-F01 carried the heaviest satellite so far launched and was placed in a GTO of 180km perigee (nearest point to earth) and 36,000km apogee (farthest point to earth).

The Edusat system is primarily meant for providing connectivity to schools, colleges, higher levels of education and also support non formal education.

The total cost of GSLV-F01 was pegged at Rs 250 crore of which Rs 160 crore was the cost of the launch vehicle and Rs 90 crore for the spacecraft.

The development of groundwork of indigenous cryogenic has been completed, its flight worthiness will be known in a year's time, he added. The second launch pad for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle will be ready by February.

The commercial arm of ISRO, Antrix reported a profit of Rs 30 crore and recorded a three times growth in turnover to Rs 300 crore in 2003-04. Nair said the reasons for the growth in turnover were that "we were able to sell space service globally".

While ISRO will provide the space segment for Edusat system and demonstrate the efficacy of the satellite system for distance education, content generation is the responsibility of the user agencies.