Insat 4CR successfully launched - on her way to 74E

**Analoguesat** · 02-09-2007

India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-F04, had a successful launch today (September 2, 2007) at 18.20 hours from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota and it placed India’s INSAT-4CR into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). This was the fifth flight of GSLV and the fourth successful one.

INSAT-4CR is now orbiting the Earth in GTO with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 168 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 34,710 km with an orbital inclination of 20.7 deg with respect to the equator.

At 4.8 seconds before count down reached zero, the four liquid propellant strap-on stages, each carrying 40 tonne of liquid propellants, were ignited. At count zero and after confirming normal performance of all the four strap-on motors, the 138 tonne solid propellant core stage was ignited and the 414 tonne, 49 m tall GSLV blazed into the sky. The important flight phases included the first stage and strap-on stage propulsion, payload fairing separation at an altitude of 115 km, the second stage propulsion and the cryogenic stage propulsion. The cryogenic propulsion stage was shut down after attaining the required velocity of 10.2 km per second. The 2,140 kg INSAT-4CR was placed in orbit about seventeen minutes after lift off, about 5,000 km away from Sriharikota.

GSLV was commissioned after both its developmental test flights conducted in April 2001 and May 2003 were successful. In its first operational flight on September 20, 2004, GSLV launched the 1,950 kg EDUSAT into GTO. However, the second operational flight, GSLV-F02, with INSAT-4C on board, conducted on July 10, 2006, did not succeed. The Failure Analysis Committee (FAC), constituted to review the reasons for the failure, concluded that the primary cause for the failure was the sudden loss of thrust in one of the four liquid propellant strap-on motors (S4) immediately after lift-off resulting from the malfunctioning of a propellant regulator. FAC also concluded that the design of GSLV is robust and recommended implementation of stricter control on fabrication, inspection and acceptance procedures. The recommendations of FAC had been implemented in GSLV-F04.

GSLV was designed and developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. The inertial systems for the vehicle were developed by the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) at Thiruvananthapuram. The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) also at Thiruvananthapuram developed the Liquid propulsion stages for the strap-ons and the second stage of GSLV as well as the reaction control systems. While the Russian supplied cryogenic stage is used for third stage propulsion, the guidance and control of the stage has been implemented by ISRO. Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR is the launch centre for all the launch vehicles of ISRO. ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command network (ISTRAC) provides Telemetry, Tracking and Command support.

INSAT-4CR Solar Array Deployed

INSAT-4CR is the third satellite in INSAT-4 series. It carries 12 high-power Ku-band transponders designed to provide Direct-To-home (DTH) television services, Video Picture Transmission (VPT) and Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG). It was built to replace an identical satellite, INSAT-4C that was lost due to the failure of GSLV-F02 in July 2006.

Soon after its injection into to GTO, the two solar arrays of INSAT-4CR were automatically deployed. The deployment of the arrays as well as the general health of the satellite were monitored by the ground station of the ISTRAC located in the Indonesian island of Biak. The Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka has since taken control of INSAT-4CR for all its post launch operations. Ground stations at Lake Cowichan (Canada), Fucino (Italy) and Beijing (China) are supporting MCF in monitoring the health of the satellite and its orbit raising operations.

In the coming days, INSAT-4CR’s orbit will be raised from its present elliptical GTO to the final Geostationary Orbit (GSO) by firing the satellite’s Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) in stages. The satellite will be commissioned into service after the completion of orbit raising operations, checking out all its transponders and positioning it in its designated orbital slot of 74 degree East longitude in the GSO. There, it will be co-located with KALPANA-1, INSAT-3C and EDUSAT.

INSAT-4CR was developed by ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore. The payloads were developed by Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. Master Control Facility at Hassan is responsible for all post launch operations of the satellite.

The successful launch of GSLV-F04 today has demonstrated the operational reliability of GSLV as well as reiterated the end-to-end capability of ISRO to not only build state-of-the-art communication satellites, but also to launch them using the indigenously designed and built launch vehicle.

ISRO press release

raj_8888 · 03-09-2007

source: isro.org

September 3, 2007

The first orbit raising manoeuvre of ISRO's latest satellite, INSAT-4CR, was successfully carried out by firing the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor on board the satellite for a duration of 27 minutes starting at 08:17 IST today (September 3, 2007) by commanding the satellite from Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka. With this operation, the perigee (nearest point to earth) of INSAT-4CR has been raised to 2983 km and apogee, the farthest point to earth to 31,702 km. The inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced to 11.1 deg.

It may be recalled that INSAT-4CR was successfully launched into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by the fifth flight of ISRO's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F04) at 18:20 hrs on September 2, 2007 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota.

All systems on board the satellite are functioning normally.

**Analoguesat** · 04-09-2007

Looks like the launch almost ended in disaster:

After more than two hours of tension, space launcher GSLV on Sunday successfully placed in orbit the communication satellite INSAT-4CR. Weighing 2,130 kg, it is the heaviest payload to be placed in orbit by an Indian launcher.

With the failure of the last GSLV mission in July 2006 on their minds, Indian Space Research Organisation scientists had readied the present launch in a record 13 months. But the GSLV-F04 kept them on their toes well beyond the planned schedule time. The launch was delayed by a day due to a sudden change in weather. On Sunday, 15 seconds before lift-off at 4.21 p.m., the launch was once again put on hold. It wasn’t till two hours later that the problem—a failed communication link between the third cryogenic stage and ground link — was rectified and the space vehicle soared in a darkening sky.

The drama wasn’t over yet. Thirteen minutes into the flight path, mission control lost contact with the vehicle. Thankfully, it came back on and a hugely relieved ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair was heard muttering “thank god”.

Seventeen minutes after blast-off, as the satellite injected into the slotted transfer orbit, the smiles were back on the faces of the ISRO brass. “It was a dramatic mission with a lot of anxiety but something that gave us immense satisfaction when everything went off successfully. Team ISRO has done it,” said Nair.

B.N. Suresh, director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, which designed the vehicle, said: “It was a small communication glitch.”

Nair said that though mission control had the option of postponing the launch by 48 hours, they were confident the launch sequence was in place. “The perfect and precise launch confirmed our confidence in the system and our team.”

This launch marks the third by ISRO in 2007 with two more scheduled.

my highlight of important info

Hindustani Times

**URPradhan** · 07-09-2007

To whom the 12Ku transponders will be given from Insat 4CR ?
May be Bharti/ Releance/SUN ????

raj_8888 · 08-09-2007

Bharti's DTH plans are now on track. The company will be launching its DTH services by January-February, 2008, Atul Bindal, president, Airtel broadband and telephone services told Business Standard.

According to sources, INSAT-4CR is carrying six transponders for Bharti Telemedia while the remaining six will be used for communication services by VSNL, Railways and National Informatics Centre. Zee group backed Dish TV has already increased its transponder capacity from seven to nine on its Dutch satellite NSS-6.

source:
http://www.business-standard.com/com...Left=0&chkFlg=

hunnyhiteshseth · 08-09-2007

I thought that Reliance transponders are also on Insat 4CR. Then on which satellite will reliance transponders be placed as I had heard it would launch its service before Bharti??

raj_8888 · 10-09-2007

INSAT-4CR Placed in Near-Geosynchronous Orbit,
Antennas Deployed

September 8, 2007

In the fifth and final orbit-raising operation conducted from Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka at 11:04 am yesterday (September 7, 2007), INSAT-4CR has been successfully placed in near-geosynchronous orbit. Subsequently, the two antennas of the satellite which are used for transmit and receive functions, have been successfully deployed and the satellite is put in its final three axis stabilised mode.

It may be recalled that INSAT-4CR was successfully launched by GSLV-F04 on September 2, 2007 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. In yesterday’s manoeuvre, the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board the satellite was fired for a duration of 196 seconds and the satellite has achieved an orbital period of 23 hours and 42 minutes. At 7:14 am today (September 8, 2007), the satellite was put in its final three-axis stabilised mode. The East reflector (antenna) was deployed yesterday (September 7, 2007) while the West reflector was deployed today.

INSAT-4CR is presently located at 51.8 deg E longitude and is expected to reach its final orbital position of 74 deg E by September 15, 2007. After reaching its final orbital position, the satellite drift will be arrested following which in-orbit testing of the payloads will be carried out. At 74 deg E longitude, INSAT-4CR will be co-located with INSAT-3C, KALPANA-1 and EDUSAT.

Source: isro.org

raj_8888 · 21-09-2007

Interestingly, the ABS-1 Satellite located at 75 degrees (only 1 degree away) carries several free to air Ku band channels including Pakistani and religious channels, all of which are free to air.

The TELSTAR-10 at 76.5 degrees east also carries almost 20 free to air Ku band channels.

INSAT-4CR DTH customers will therefore receive a bonus of more than 50 FTA Ku band channels, in addition to their paid fare for Reliance's Blue Magic DTH channels.