GSAT-09 adds to India’s comsat constellation

BENGALURU: The GSAT-09 is not only a gift to India’s neighbours but will augment India’s communications sector. It’ll join 13 other communication satellites in orbit , allowing India to offer a series of applications to its citizens.

Adding to over 200 transponders Isro owns, the 12 transponders which will be shared with its South Asian neighbours will add to India’s communication infrastructure. Isro chairman AS Kiran Kumar, in September 2016, had conceded that India was “significantly short in space”. India currently has a 36-satellite constellation spread across observation, communication, navigation and space science.

According to estimates, a third of the 286 satellite transponders India uses were non-Indian with more than 90 hired transponders used specifically for directto-home broadcasting, and the severe shortage — with a growing population and increasing number of phone and internet users — had prompted Isro to issue a request for proposal seeking to lease out some more transponders in December 2016.

“We need to at least double the number of satellites to be able to give reasonable service to the nation,” Kumar said, adding that for this, the space agency must also enhance launch capability and reduce satellitebuilding time. “Isro is now reaching a stage where we can launch one satellite a month, but that must be increased to at least 1.5 or two launches a month,” he said.

While the launch of GSAT-09 will not completely solve this problem, four other launches Isro has lined up for this year is seen to be providing a major boost areas such as telephone, broadcasting and internet service. among other things.

The communication satellites in service are: Five in the INSAT family (3A, 3C, 4A, 4B, 4CR) and eight in the GSAT family (6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 15 and 18). Augmenting the INSAT and GSAT capacity was Isro’s focus during the 12th Five Year Plan. However, of the 14 communication satellites Isro hoped to launch during the period, only seven were achieved, which has pushed the space agency to line up a series of launches this year.

In what will become a personal record if achieved (launch of five communication satellites in a year), Isro has lined up the launches of: GSAT-19, GSAT-17, GSAT-6A — for the defence forces — and GSAT-11. Of these, GSAT-11 and 17 are scheduled to be launched by foreign vehicles.