By R Anil Kumar
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Elon Musk owned American Space company SpaceX will launch one of India’s heaviest Communication satellite GSAT-N2, weighing 4,700 Kgs, on Tuesday, 19 November: S. Somanath, ISRO Chairman
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SpaceX Falcon-9 to launch India’s one of the heavyweight satellites GSAT-N2, also known as GSAT-20, from Cape Canaveral in the US
Bengaluru, November 17. Elon Musk owned American Space company SpaceX will launch India’s one of the heavyweight satellite GSAT-N2,into orbit on November 19, from Cape Canaveral Canaveral.
Musk’s SpaceX has reportedly secured a major deal with India’s Space Agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), to launch the Gsat-20 Communication satellite, the most advanced Communication satellite into Orbit.
ISRO’s heavy LVM-3 Known as “Bahubali”, has the capability of launching satellites upto 4 tonnes into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). As GSAT-N2, Weighs more than 4tonnes, (4700 kgs), ISRO is seeking help from SpaceX for launching its satellite with its heavylifter Falcon-9 rocket, which can launch satellites of 8,300 kgs or 8.3 tonnes, into GTO, said S. Somanath.
ISRO was dependent on Arianespace, of France, to launch its heavy satellites, until now.but it lacks commercial slots, due to Ariane-5, the Company’s heavylifter rocket retired last year and commercial satellite launch of its successor Ariane-6 are already booked, the ISRO chairman clarified.
With Russia engaged in conflicts with Ukraine, India had the no other option but to go for the launch with SpaceX, he added.
The GSAT-N2 or Gsat-20, a continuation of Gsat series of Communication satellites, is funded, owned and operated by ISRO’s commercial arm New Space India Limited. The satellite having a mission life of 14 years features a Ka- band, a high-throughput Communications payload with 70Gbit/s throughput utilising 40 beams offering HTS capacity of nearly 48 Gbps, each beam having two polarisations, effectively making them 80 beams.
The satellite is intended to add data transmission capacity to Communication Infrastructure required to the Union government’s Smart City mission and will also help enable in-flight internet connectivity.
As India lacks a satellite launcher for over 4tonnes, ISRO has now fast-tracked the development of Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV),
The Rs. 8,240 crore NGLV programme is designed to enhance payload capacity three-fold compared to the current LVM-3, while its cost will only be 1.5 times more. NGLV is designed to have a maximum payload capability of 30 tonnes to the Low Earth Orbit and will also have a reusable first stage.It will also be able to carry payloads of about 10 tonnes to GTO.
India has also inked another commercial deal with the Houston based company Axiom Space to send an Indian Astronaut to the International Space Station on-board the SpaceX Falcon-9 and Crew Dragon human space flight system.
