Arianespace to launch another Indian satellite in a month

BANGALORE: European space consortium Arianespace, which orbited India's advanced weather spacecraft INSAT-3D early today, is getting ready to launch another satellite of the country, GSAT-7, in a month's time.

"As of now, the schedule for launch of GSAT-7 is August 30th early morning", Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Radhakrishnan told PTI here.

"The satellite is already in Kourou (Arianespace's spaceport in French Guiana) and testing is being done. It's a multi-band communication satellite", Radhakrishnan, also Secretary in the Department of Space, said.

According to officials of the Bangalore-headquartered space agency, GSAT-7 would carry payloads in Ultra High Frequency (UHF), S-band, C-band and Ku-band.

The satellite employs the standard 2.5 ton bus platform with the power handling capability of around 2600 Watts and lift off mass of 2,550 kg, they said.

Arianespace, the commercial space transportation company, said the Ariane Flight VA215 will orbit dual-passenger payloads -- the Eutelsat 25B/Es'hail-1 and GSAT-7.

After being deployed by Ariane 5 rocket, GSAT-7 will operate from an orbital position of 74 deg. East.