On Thursday, Arianespace successfully launched a dual-satellite Ariane 5 mission from French Guiana. India’s First Satellite Of 2020, GSAT-30, will provide DTH television services, Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG), and e-governance applications. The satellite will also be used for bulk data transfer for a host of emerging telecommunication applications.
Onboard the workhorse rocket were two satellites: Eutelsat Konnect for the European satellite operator Eutelsat and GSAT-30 for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Both satellites were deployed to geosynchronous orbit at approximately 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above Earth’s surface about half an hour after liftoff.
India’s “high power” communication satellite GSAT-30, aimed at providing high-quality television, telecommunications and broadcasting services, was successfully launched onboard Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana in the early hours of Friday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.
GSAT-30 is to replace the “aging” INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage, ISRO has said, adding the satellite provides Indian mainland and islands coverage in Ku-band and extended coverage in C-band covering Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia.
The space agency said the GSAT-30 payload is specifically designed and optimized to maximize the number of transponders on the spacecraft. The satellite would be extensively used for supporting Vsat network, television uplinking and teleport services, digital satellite news gathering, DTH television services, cellular backhaul connectivity, and many such applications. After the operationalization of GSAT-30, Isro will again foster the use of space to help bridge the digital divide in the rural areas.
