December 20, 2025 03:18 pm (IST)
Follow us:
President congratulates ISRO on launch of GSAT-16
New Delhi, Dec 7 (IBNS): President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday congratulated the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on the successful launch of Communication Satellite GSAT-16.
In his message to K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of ISRO, the President said, “Please accept my heartiest congratulations to your team and you at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the successful launch of India’s Communication Satellite GSAT-16. The nation is proud of this achievement, which is a significant milestone in the progress of our space capabilities."
"Kindly convey my greetings to the members of your team of scientists, engineers, technologists and all others associated with this great mission. Our nation is grateful for their hard work and proud of their accomplishments," he said.
In a significant development, India's latest communication satellite GSAT-16 was successfully placed in orbit by Ariane-5 rocket in the early hours on Sunday from the space port of Kourou in French Guiana.
"India's communication satellite, GSAT-16, was successfully launched at 0210 hrs IST today (December 7, 2014) by the Ariane-5 launch vehicle VA221 of Arianespace from Kourou, French Guiana. Ariane-5 precisely placed GSAT-16 into the intended Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), after a flight of 32 minutes and 20.4 Seconds duration," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement.
ISRO's Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka started acquiring the signal from the satellite at 0241 hrs IST and the commanding of the satellite was initiated.
Initial checks have indicated normal health of the satellite.
The present orbit of the satellite will be raised to Geostationary Orbit of about 36,000 km altitude through three orbit raising manoeuvres by the firing of GSAT-16's Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) Engine.
Preparations are underway for the first firing, planned in the early hours of Monday.
The satellite will be placed in the Geostationary Orbit by Dec 12, 2014 and subsequently the satellite's communication transponders will be switched on for in-orbit testing.
Meanwhile, the ISRO had announced that after the successful launch, GSAT-16 is in good health. ISRO's Master Control Facility at Hassan has taken over the control of the satellite.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
PM Modi’s Nadia rally in Bengal delayed as helicopter fails to land due to dense fog
Sat, Dec 20 2025
Horror on tracks: Rajdhani Express ploughs into elephant herd, eight killed in Assam
Sat, Dec 20 2025
Viral video of foreign tourists exploring New Delhi with a local auto rickshaw driver steals hearts!
Fri, Dec 19 2025
Why India remains unaffected as Trump suspends US Green Card lottery? Find out here
Fri, Dec 19 2025
Goa's popular Curlie's pub sealed days after nightclub fire tragedy
Fri, Dec 19 2025
Income tax officials search Shilpa Shetty’s home in probe linked to Bastian Restaurant
Thu, Dec 18 2025