This article is more than 1 year old

Indian sat flies 40 mins late

India is celebrating the the tenth successful launch of its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, after its space agency yesterday sent a weather satellite into orbit.

The launch was delayed due to what the Indian Space Research Organisation desribed as “an anomaly observed in the functioning of a pressure  release valve in the liquid Oxygen filling ground segment”. It can;t have been much of an anomaly as the rocket lifted just 40 minutes late, delivering INSAT-3DR into an orbit with with a perigee of 169.76 km, an apogee of 36,080.5 km and an orbital inclination of 20.62 degress.

In coming days, a series of burns will place the satellite in a circular orbit from which it can best join India's other weather observation satellites and also give the nation a new emergency location capability.

The 2,221kg satellite is India's heaviest launch to date. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news