INSAT-3D and Alphasat satellites launched successfully

July 28, 2013

European space consortium Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket launched INSAT-3D  and Alphasat satellites from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana, giving a boost to weather forecasting and disaster warning services.

About INSAT-3D:
  • Designed to provide meteorological observation and monitoring of land and ocean surfaces.
  • INSAT-3D also carried the newly developed 19 ‘Channel Sounder’, the first such payload to be flown on an ISRO satellite mission. It will perform weather monitoring through its atmospheric sounding system, which provides vertical profiles of temperature, humidity and integrated ozone from surface to top of the atmosphere.
  • It will provide continuity to earlier missions and further augment the capability to provide various meteorological as well as search and rescue services.
  • The Data Relay Transponder (DRT) will be used to receive meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic data from remote, uninhabited locations over the coverage area from Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) like automatic weather station, automatic rain gauge and agro met stations.
  • It is equipped with a Search and Rescue payload that picks up and relays the alert signals originating from the distress beacons of maritime, aviation and land based users to the Indian Mission Control Centre located at Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network here.
Who will be the major users of Satellite Aided Search and Rescue service in India?
  • The major users of Satellite Aided Search and Rescue service in India are Indian Coast Guard, Airports Authority of India, directorate general of shipping, defence services and fishermen.
What will be the expanse of service region of INSAT-3D?
  • The Indian service region includes a large part of the Indian Ocean region covering India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Tanzania for rendering distress alert services.
What are Alphasat satellites?
  • Alphasat is Europe’s largest telecommunication satellite-ever manufactured and results from a large-scale public-private partnership between the European Space Agency and Inmarsat.
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