ISRO says it lost communication with recently launched GSAT-6A
Sriharikota, Apr 1 (IBNS): The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday said communication with GSAT-6A, the country's newest communication satellite, was lost after the second firing of the on-board engine.
The second orbit raising operation of GSAT-6A satellite was succesfully carried out on Saturday.
Efforts are now being carried out to establish links with the satellite.
The ISRO in a statement said: "The second orbit raising operation of GSAT-6A satellite has been successfully carried out by LAM Engine firing for about 53 minutes on March 31, 2018 in the morning."
"After the successful long duration firings, when the satellite was on course to normal operating configuration for the third and the final firing, scheduled for April 1, 2018, communication from the satellite was lost," the organisation stated.
"Efforts are underway to establish the link with the satellite," the statement added.
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F08) successfully launched GSAT-6A Satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on Thursday.
The launch of GSLV was its twelfth and took place from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, the spaceport of India.
This is the fifth consecutive success achieved by GSLV carrying indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage.
In its oval shaped GTO, GSAT-6A was scheduled to orbit the Earth with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 169.4 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 36,692.5 km with an orbital inclination of 20.64 deg with respect to the equator.
GSAT-6A is a communication satellite built by ISRO to provide mobile communication services through multi beam coverage. For this, it is equipped with S and C band transponders.
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