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Insat
3C will finally be launched tomorrow by an Ariane 4 rocket
from the European spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana.
The long delayed event will be telecast live by Doordarshan
(DD1) from 3.45 am. The launch is scheduled at 4.23 am IST.
According to Indian space agency Isro, all the launch preparations
for the indigenously built Insat 3C have been completed
at the launch site. The 2,750 kg spacecraft reached Kourou
on 4 December 2001 and has since undergone extensive electrical
and mechanical tests. It has now been integrated with the
Ariane 4 launch vehicle of Arianespace, the space agency
that is partnering Isro in the venture.
 Isro's
Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka meanwhile
has been fully prepared to take control of INSAT-3C as soon
as it is launched into its geostationary tranfer orbit.
Arianespace officials meanwhile say that final countdown
operations for its first mission of the year are now underway
following the launch readiness review, which was conducted
on Tuesday at the Spaceport. The review verified the "go"
status of the Ariane 4 vehicle, its INSAT 3C satellite payload,
the launch infrastructure at the Guiana Space Center, and
the downrange tracking stations that will follow the mission's
trajectory. Flight 147 will use an Ariane 42L version of
the Ariane 4 launcher family, which is equipped with two
liquid strap-on boosters added to the first stage for additional
thrust during liftoff and initial ascent.
INSAT 3C has been developed and assembled by Isro, and will
be placed at an orbital position of 74 deg East (over the
Indian Ocean). INSAT 3C will carry 24 C-band, six extended
C-band and two S-band transponders and a Mobile Satellite
Service Transponder operating in S-band up-link and C-band
down link frequencies, Isro officials say. It will provide
telecommunications and TV coverage over the Indian subcontinent
via the transponders on board.
The spacecraft will be the eighth Indian satellite orbited
by Ariane launchers. The relationship between Arianespace
and Isro dates back to the Ariane launch in June 1981 when
the first Indian satellite, Apple was launched.
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