INSAT-3E is the fourth satellite to be launched in the INSAT-3 series. It is an exclusive communication satellite to further augment the communication services that are being provided by the INSAT System. Weighing 2750 kg at lift-off, INSAT-3E carries 24 Normal C-band and 12 Extended C-band transponders. INSAT-3E will be launched from Kourou, French Guyana by the European Ariane 5 launch vehicle into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) with a perigee of 650 km and an apogee of 36,000 km inclined at an angle of 7 deg to the equator. The satellite will be manoeuvred to its final circular 36,000 km Geostationary Orbit by firing the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board the satellite. The satellite will be stationed at 55 deg East longitude. Commissioned in 1983, INSAT is the largest domestic communication satellite system in the Asia-Pacific region. At present, it has six satellites ó INSAT-2E, INSAT-3A, INSAT-3B, INSAT-3C, KALPANA-1 and an experimental satellite GSAT-2 providing Telecommunications, TV broadcasting, Meteorological Imaging, Disaster Warning and Satellite-aided search and rescue services. INSAT system provides about 120 transponders in S-band, C-band, extended C-band and Ku-band, besides Very high Resolution Radiometer (VHRR) and Charge Coupled Device (CCD) camera for meteorological imaging. INSAT-3D, an advanced meteorological satellite and the last in the INSAT-3 series, will be launched in 2004-05.