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INSAT-3A Reaches Its Space Home
April 24, 2003

ISRO's latest multipurpose satellite, INSAT-3A, which was launched on
April 10, 2003 from Kourou in French Guyana, has been successfully
placed in its final geo-stationary orbital slot at 93.5 deg East
longitude. 

It may be recalled that, after the injection of the satellite into
geo-stationary transfer orbit by Ariane launch vehicle, orbit-raising
manoeuvres were carried out from ISRO's Master Control Facility
(MCF), Hassan, by firing the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor on board
the satellite to place it in the geo-stationary orbit. At the end of
these manoeuvres on April 14, 2003, the satellite was allowed to
drift slowly towards its designated orbital slot. In this drift
orbit, deployment of antennas and solar arrays was carried out on
April 15, 2003. The solar sail on the north side of the satellite was
deployed on April 16, 2003 and INSAT-3A put in three-axes stabilised
mode. The meteorological instruments namely Charge Coupled Devise
(CCD) Camera and Very High Resolution Radiometer were tested on April
17th and 18th respectively. 

In the last five days, station acquisition manoeuvres were
successfully conducted from MCF, Hassan, by firing the 10 Newton
Reaction Control Thrusters on board to position INSAT-3A precisely at
93.5 deg East longitude. The satellite will be maintained in this
location for the rest of its service life.

In the coming weeks, the payloads comprising 12 C-band transponders,
six extended C-band transponders, and six Ku-band transponders and
the mobile satellite service transponders will be tested before
INSAT-3A is commissioned in to service.

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