India on Thursday successfully placed its 42nd communication satellite CMS-01 (formerly GSAT-12R) in the geosynchronous transfer orbit in a textbook style.
India's brand new communication satellite CMS-01 with a life span of seven years will provide services in Extended-C Band of the frequency spectrum. The satellite will cover Indian mainland, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands, said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the country's space agency.
The CMS-01 will be a replacement for GSAT-12 that weighed 1,410 kg and was launched on July 11, 2011 with a mission life of eight years.
Expressing his happiness at the successful launch of CMS-01 satellite, ISRO Chairman K.Sivan said: "In four days time the CMS-01 satellite will be taken to its intended geosynchronous orbit. The satellite's solar panel has been deployed."
He said the next rocket that would fly in Feb-March 2021 will be PSLV-C51 which will be a special one for ISRO as well as for the country.
Sivan said the rocket will be carrying India's first earth observation satellite from a start-up called Pixxel. The rocket will also carry communication satellite built by students part of SpaceKidz team and another satellite built by consortium of three Indian universities.
"The primary payload for PSLV-C51 rocket will be a Brazilian satellite weighing between 600-700kg," Sivan told IANS.
He also said Team ISRO has a busy schedule ahead with the launch of Aditya satellite, Gaganyaaan-India's human space mission, realisation of small rocket Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV). Source: i
of the GSLV-D5 mission, however, is to flight-test the rocket’s all-important third stage: the indigenously-built cryogenic upper stage (CUS). The CUS, expected to be the mainstay of future GSLV flights, replaces the Russian cryogenic engine which was used in the rocket’s earlier experimental flights. There will be a lot of crossed fingers at Sriharikota during the launch, considering the new engine had a disastrous maiden flight in April 2010, shutting down less than a second after ignition, with the rocket plunging into the sea. The GSLV’s significance lies in the fact that the future of the global satellite market lies in the field of communications. The GSAT 14 satellite piggybacking the GSLV-D5 carries six Ku-band and six extended C-band transponders to help in digital audio broadcasting and other communications across the entire
subcontinent. Designed to last for a dozen years in its orbit, the satellite will replace the GSAT-3 (EDUSAT) which has been in orbit for 10 years. The big boosters in the GSLV series can hoist heavy communication satellites into geosynchronous orbits 36,000 km above the equator. In this position, the satellite keeps pace with Earth’s rotation and, as a result, appears stationary from the ground. This makes it easier to build simpler antennas on the ground, which do not have to track moving satellites in the sky. But powerful GSLV Mark IIIs (like the GSLV-D5) that can carry five-tonne satellites need cryogenic engines. These engines use fuels like oxygen and hydrogen in
liquid form — stored at extremely low temperatures — to produce enormous amounts of thrust per unit mass (engineering parlance for the mass of fuel the engine requires to provide maximum thrust for a specific period such as, say, pounds of fuel per hour per pound of thrust). Rockets powered by cryogenic motors, therefore, need to carry much less fuel than would otherwise be required. Cryogenic fuels are also extremely clean as they give out only water while burning. A successful GSLV-D5 flight will make India only the sixth nation to possess this cutting edge technology, joining the United States, Russia, France, Japan and China in an elite club. India’s cryogenic
motor development encountered some rough weather in 1993 when exaggerated US jitters — that India might utilise its space capabilities for military purposes — led to Moscow chickening out of a cryo-engine technology transfer deal with New Delhi. Of course, the real reason for guarding cryogenic engine technology so zealously probably had more to do with economics than national security. India’s arrival in the global heavy-lift launch market as a low cost launch source would have threatened the business interests of Europe, Russia, and the US. In hindsight, though, it seems to have been a disguised blessing for Indian scientists who were forced to develop
the technology on their own. The GSLV will reduce India’s dependence on foreign launchers like the ESA’s Ariane to launch INSAT-class satellites. Isro sources speak of plans to fly two more GSLVs at six-month-intervals before using the third one for the Chandrayaan-2 Moon mission. The GSLV-Mark III is also earmarked for launching human space flights in future and building orbiting space stations. Isro has built up an impressive portfolio of comparatively cheap space products and services that are attractive to foreign space agencies that want to outsource space missions. Together with the old workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the GSLV can bolster
India’s launch capability, which already boasts 30 to 35% cheaper launches than other countries. That said, however, the space agency cannot afford to ignore the fact that other players jostling in the international space market are constantly pushing the bar still higher. For the moment, though, all eyes will be on the GSLV-D5 mission, which will determine how soon Isro can claim its rightful share of the $300 billion global space market. 
