Advanced weather satellite Insat-3D to be launched on Friday

SOURCE: TNN

An indigenous advanced weather satellite, Insat-3D, with newly developed equipment to study the atmosphere, will be launched on Friday, July 26 between 1.23am and 2.41am (IST) from the European spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana.

An Isro official told TOI that the new equipment, known as atmospheric sounder, will be the first geostationary sounder system over the Indian Ocean. A sounder is a scanner which studies the atmosphere.

With a mission life exceeding seven years, Insat-3D will have a lift off mass of 2,060kg and will be equipped with an improved imaging system, a satellite-aided search and rescue payload and a data relay transponder.

Insat 3D will be carried by Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket along with another foreign satellite, marking the 70th flight of the rocket.

The official said the next six weeks will be hectic for the Isro as the flight of Insat-3D will be followed by the launch of the Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with an indigenous cryogenic engine, in the middle of August from Sriharikota. This flight is crucial because two missions of the GSLV had failed in 2010 — one in April with the first indigenous cryogenic engine, and the other in December with a Russian engine.

Towards the end of August, multi-band communication satellite GSat-7, which is expected to provide services to the Indian Navy, will be launched by Ariane 5 from Kourou. “It is a coincidence that two launches of our satellite are taking place in such quick succession from Kourou. This is the first time such a thing has happened,” he said.