ISRO’s GSAT-17 launched successfully from French Guiana

TIL Desk/National/Bengaluru/ India’s latest communication satellite GSAT-17 was on Thursday successfully launched by a heavy duty rocket of Arianespace from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana. Configured around I-3K extended bus, GSAT-17 with a lift-off mass of about 3,477 kg carries payloads in Normal C-band, Extended C-band and S-band to provide various communication services.

It also carries equipment for meteorological data relay and satellite based search and rescue services being provided by earlier INSAT satellites. The European launcher Arianespace Flight VA238 blasted off from Ariane Launch Complex No 3 (ELA 3) at Kourou, a French territory located in northeastern coast of South America, couple of minutes delayed than the scheduled time of 2:29 hrs IST.

GSAT-17 was injected shortly after orbiting co-passenger Hellas Sat 3-Inmarsat S EAN in a flawless flight lasting about 41 minutes. “GSAT-17 successfully launched by Ariane-5 VA-238 from Kourou, French Guiana,” ISRO announced after the mission. GSAT-17 that will strengthen ISRO’s current fleet of 17 telecommunications satellites was launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.

This was the third satellite launch by the ISRO this month, the other two being first developmental flight of GSLV MkIII and PSLV C-38 missions — both from Sriharikota spaceport. GSLV MkIII successfully launched GSAT-19 satellite on June 5 while PSLV-C38 orbited Cartosat-2 Series satellite along with 30 co-passenger satellites on June 23 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.