This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GSLV-D2 ..First orbit raising operations successfully carried out
May 9, 2003

The second developmental test flight of India's Geosynchronous
Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-D2, was successfully carried out on
May 8, 2003 from Satish Dhawan Space Center, SHAR, Sriharikota.
GSLV-D2 successfully placed GSAT-2 in an orbit of 180 km perigee
(nearest point to earth) and 36,000 km apogee (farthest point to
earth) at an orbital inclination of 19.2 degree with respect to the
equator, and with an orbital period of 10 hours 30 minutes, as
planned. 

Multiple orbit raising operations are planned on GSAT-2 satellite to
raise it from its current Geo-synchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) to the
Geo-synchronous Orbit (GSO).  The first of these orbit raising
operations was successfully carried out at 8:45 am (IST), this
morning (May 9, 2003) by firing the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor on
board the satellite for a duration of 47 minutes 30 seconds. The
operations were carried out by commanding the satellite from Master
Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka. With this operation,
the orbital perigee of GSAT-2 has been raised to 8,850 km and the
apogee remains at 36,000 km. The inclination of the orbit with
respect to the equatorial plane has also been reduced from 19.2
degree at the time of injection to 7.37 degree. The orbital period of
the satellite now is 13 hours 20 minutes. Further manoeuvres are
planned in the next few days.

The satellite was acquired by the ground station at Biak immediately
after separation from the launch vehicle. After a visibility gap of
50 minutes, Lake Cowichan Station in Canada acquired the satellite at
6:15 pm (IST) yesterday, as planned. The initial operations including
health checks, gyro calibration and rehearsals for Apogee Motor
Firing were carried out. MCF-Hassan acquired the satellite signals
from the GSAT-2 at 4:00 a.m. (IST) this morning as per prediction.

The next Apogee raising operation is planned tomorrow (May 10, 2003)
at 11:30 a.m. The health of the satellite is normal.

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---