India’s first defence satellite GSAT-7 launched successfully

Mangaloretoday/DHNS

August 29, 2013: India’s first exclusive satellite for Navy, GSAT-7, was successfully launched by European space consortium Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

This is India’s first dedicated satellite for defence applications. The satellite is designed to meet the Indian Navy’s telecommunication needs.

 

Developed by Indian Space Research Organisation, the state-of-the-art satellite would provide the country with UHF, S-band, C-band and Ku-band relay capacity over the Indian land mass.

The satellite is adapted from India’s I-2K spacecraft bus, which also was used for the INSAT-3D satellite -- lofted by Arianespace’s most recent Ariane 5 mission July 25.

GSAT-7 has a lift-off mass of 2,625 kg and is based on ISRO’s 2,500 kg satellite bus with some new technological elements, including the antennae. Its solar arrays generate 2,900 W of electrical power.

A 108 Ampere-Hour Lithium-Ion battery enables the satellite to function during the eclipse period. The propulsion subsystem has a 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) and thrusters.

So far, Inmarsat provided the communication services for ships. Now, the country gets its own satellite that experts say would help the Indian Navy that is acquiring Blue Water capabilities.

The satellite cost Rs.185 crore and Rs.470 crore for the launch.