GSat-5P

Spacecraft nº:

Indian spacecraft nº: 57

Launch data: Designation  10F04 Launch date  25 Dec 2010 - 10:34 UT Launch site  Sriharikota, SLP Launch vehicle  GSLV Mk.1 (F06) Mission  Communication Decay  25 Dec 2010

Spacecraft data: Prime contractor  ISRO Platform  I-2K (I-2000) Bus Operator  Insat Mass at launch  2310 kg Dry Mass   kg Basic shape  Box + 2 panels Dimension (m)   Equipment  12 C-band transponders, 6 extended C-band transponders Solar array  2 deployable solar arrays Stabilization   Propulsion  440 Newton thrust liquid apogee motor DC power

GSAT-5P Satellite undergoing prelaunch checks - Credit: ISRO

Description:

• GSAT-5 / INSAT-4D is a C-band and Ext C-band satellite, carrying 18 transponders. Of these, 12 transponders will operate in the Normal C-band with wider coverage in uplink and downlink to cover Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe/Zonal coverage. 6 transponders will operate in Ext C-band and have India coverage. The option of incorporating L-band is under consideration.
• INSAT-4 series is planned to have seven satellites, INSAT-4A through INSAT-4G with INSAT-4D as a spare. The transponder capacity of this series has been worked out after evaluating the requirement projected by different uses/user departments. It is planned that, by 2007, INSAT system will have about 250 transponders in various bands catering to a demand of up to 11 Giga Bits Per Second (GBPS) capacity.
• Insat-4D was cancelled and rebuilt as the GSat-5P spacecraft.

Mission details:

• ISRO had postponed the December 20 launch of the Geo-Stationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F06), in its seventh mission, after a minor leak was noticed in the Russian Cryogenic engine during the pre-countdown checks.
• India's GSLV Mark I rocket flight F06 was destroyed one minute after launch on Dec 25, 2010 after the steering system on its strap on boosters failed to receive commands from the rocket's computer. The vehicle reached an altitude of 15 km. The rocket carried the GSAT-5P communications satellite, and was to feature the first use of a stretched version of the Russian-developed third stage.
• Control was lost with the rocket 47 sec after liftoff when commands didn't reached the strap-on booster that perform steering for the 1st stage, due to dislodging of cable connecters.