ISRO launced India’s heaviest communication satellite GSAT-11 successfully from French Guiana

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully launched GSAT-11, which is India's heaviest satellite Arianespace rocket from the French Guiana. The satellite was launched from the Ariane Launch Complex in Kourou, a French territory which is located along the northeastern coast of South America at 02:07 am (IST) today. The launch was also broadcast live on Doordarshan.

According to reports, the GSAT-11 satellite is made to improve the broadband services by providing something like 16Gbps data link services to the country. ISRO also claimed that it is the heaviest and most-advanced communication satellite ever made in India. "The heaviest, largest and most powerful satellite ever built by India is successfully launched by Ariane-5 today," said ISRO Chairman K Sivan after the launch.

GSAT-11 weighs around 5,854 kgs, which makes it the heaviest satellite built by ISRO. It has been designed for more than 15 years of lifetime. After a 30-min flight, GSAT-11 will separate from the Ariane 5 upper stage in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. The achieved orbit was very close to the intended one.

GSAT-11 has 38 spot beams along with eight sub-beams, which is capable of covering the entire country, including the remote places. It will play a very important role in providing broadband services in the country. It will also work like a platform which help in demonstrating the new applications.

Initially, the GSAT-11 will be placed in the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. Later it will be pushed to Geostationary Orbit by firing the on-board Liquid Apogee Motor.

In the last 21 days, ISRO successfully completed three satellite and two launch vehicle missions. It seems India is doing well in the field of aerospace and satellite.