 |
|---|
Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO, addressing the function in presence of dignitaries on the dais |
ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan Karnataka which monitors and controls the geostationary satellites of India, celebrated its silver jubilee on June 8, 2007. Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, the President of India, visited MCF on that special occasion and dedicated INSAT-4B to the nation. The President also presented awards instituted by Astronautical Society of India and ISRO.
Geostationary satellites have become invaluable space-based assets of India because of the variety of services provided by them as well as the critical nature of these services. This necessistates continuous vigil in maintaining health of those precious satellites, and thus ensuring the continuity of services at all times. Such satellites come under INSAT, GSAT and KALPANA series.
MCF is a constituent Unit of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). MCF monitors and controls satellites from its two campuses located at Hassan in Karnataka and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. The facility at Hassan was established in 1980-81, based on the studies conducted on various aspects like low electromagnetic radiation noise, wide visibility of geosynchronous orbital arc, etc. MCF – Bhopal facility became operational in 2005.
MCF carries out the Telemetry, Tracking and Command operations of ten ISRO’s geostationary satellite missions in all the phases like launch, the initial orbit raising, station acquisition, in-orbit testing of payloads and on-orbit operations till the end of mission. MCF is also the focal point for mission analysis, operations scheduling, special and critical operations for all the geostationary satellites of India.
 |
|---|
The sprawling MCF campus, Hassan |
MCF is an integrated facility, consisting of multiple Satellite Control Earth Stations (SCES), Satellite Control Centre (SCC), Mission Control Centre (MCC), Computer Networks and software that acquires and processes the data from more than 10 communication satellites simultaneously. Around 100 computers are interconnected to process the real-time data, which is made available to experts for analysis. MCF is equipped with an uninterrupted power supply network so that the systems never experience any break in power.
Since 1982, MCF has successfully handled 19 geostationary satellite missions launched from USA, French Guyana as well as Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota in India.
MCF has the overall radio visibility coverage extending from the Persian Gulf in the West to Australia in the East of about 150 degrees of the geostationary arc. This excellent geographical advantage makes MCF, Hassan and Bhopal ideal locations for controlling the geostationary satellites positioned over the Asia-Pacific region.
The satellite operations at MCF are carried out on a round the clock basis, by highly skilled staff with the help of state-of-the-art facilities.
 |
|---|
| Dr A P J Abdul Kalam showing keen interest about satellite operations |