(17 March 2007 6:30 pm)

MUMBAI: In a third and final orbit-raising operation, Insat-4B has been successfully placed in near-geosynchronous orbit.

In yesterday’s manoeuvre, conducted from Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka, the liquid apogee motor (Lam) on board the satellite was fired for a duration of 3 min 50 sec and the satellite has achieved an orbital period of 23 hours and 52 minutes.

After placing Insat-4B in near-geosynchronous orbit, the deployment of its two solar panels and two antennas was successfully completed. The two solar arrays of Insat-4B together generate 5,860 W of electrical power. The two antennas are used for various transmit and receive functions. The satellite was put to its three-axis stabilised mode today.

Insat-4B was successfully launched by Ariane-5 on 12 March from Kourou, French Guiana. The satellite is presently located at 74.88 deg E longitude and is drifting towards its final orbital position of 93.5 deg E. The satellite drift will be arrested at 80.5 deg E longitude to carry out in-orbit testing of the payloads after which, it will be moved to 93.5 deg E longitude where it will be co-located with Insat-3A.

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