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INSAT-4A Launched India’s
latest satellite, INSAT-4A, was successfully launched from Kourou
in French Guyana on December 22, 2005 by the European Ariane-5 launch
vehicle. INSAT-4A has given further boost to the INSAT system capacity,
especially for Direct-To-Home (DTH) Television broadcast. INSAT-4A
INSAT-4A carries 12 high power Ku-band transponders and 12 C-band transponders for television services. The Ku-band transponders provide ground coverage that includes the Indian mainland while the C-band transponders provide ground coverage encompassing not only the Indian geographical boundary but also regions beyond India in the southeast and northwest regions as well as parts of Asia-Pacific and Gulf countries. INSAT was established in 1983 and it has now become one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in the Asia Pacific region with nine satellites in operation — INSAT-2E, INSAT-3A, INSAT-3B, INSAT-3C, INSAT-3E, KALPANA-1, GSAT-2 and EDUSAT besides INSAT-4A – providing 174 transponders in various frequency bands like S-band, C-band, extended C-band and Ku-band for television, telecommunications, VSATs, tele-education and telemedicine as well as instruments for meteorological services. Soon
after the launch of 3086 kg INSAT-4A by the Ariane launch vehicle
into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, Master Control Facility at Hassan
in Karnataka acquired the first signals from the satellite. In the
following days, through three critical orbit raising manoeuvres by
firing the 440 Newton
Communication
Payloads • 12 C-band 36 MHz bandwidth transponders employing 63 W TWTA to provide an EIRP of 39 dBW at the edge of coverage with expanded radiation patterns encompassing Indian geographical boundary and area beyond India in southeast and in northwest regions
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