Chennai, April 11: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday claimed that it knows the exact location of communication satellite GSAT-6A which lost contact soon after its launch on March 29. ISRO launched the satellite onboard Geosynchronous rocket GSLV-F08 from and placed in the designated orbit in the last month.

According to a report by TOI, ISRO chairman Dr K Sivan said that with the help of the satellite tracking system and other sources, the space agency knows the exact location of GSAT-6A. “Earlier, we were searching in the dark. But now we know the exact position of the satellite and keeping a close watch on its movement round-the-clock”, he was quoted.  Sivan informed that at present, GSAT-6A is moving in the geo-transfer orbit at perigee of around 26,000km and apogee of about 33,000km.

The ISRO chief further added that the team is hopeful that at a particular orientation, it will capture the signal from the ground station and communication will be restored. He informed that two teams are working simultaneously out of which one team is busy restoring the link with GSAT-6A and the other in preparation of the launch of navigation satellite IRNSS-1I, which is the eighth satellite to join the constellation of navigation satellites. The satellite will be launched at 4.04am on Thursday from Sriharikota by PSLV-C41.

To recall, GSAT-6A was launched onboard Geosynchronous rocket GSLV-F08 from the Sriharikota on March 29. ISRO informed that the GSAT-6A is similar to GSAT-6, a high power S-band communication satellite built on I-2K satellite bus with a mission life of about ten years. The 2140-kg communication satellite GSAT-6A is aimed at helping in mobile communication even from very remote locations through hand-held ground terminals.

After its successful launch, communication from the GSAT-6A  was lost and efforts have been underway to establish a link with it. The second orbit raising operation of GSAT-6A has been successfully carried out by Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) Engine firing for about 53 minutes on March 31, in the morning, the ISRO said in a statement.

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F08), fitted with indigenously developed cryogenic third stage, injected the satellite into orbit about 18 minutes after its lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. ISRO said that the satellite would provide a thrust to mobile communication through multi-beam coverage facility. Sivan described the mission as a success and congratulated the scientists behind the mission. Sivan said the communication satellite was successfully placed in the designated orbit.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 11, 2018 09:33 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).