Another milestone for ISRO, deploys GSAT-6's largest antenna

The successful deployment of military communication satellite GSAT-6’s antenna on Sunday marked yet another milestone for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as it was the largest antenna made by them. The size of the S-Band Unfurlable Antenna is six metre in diameter. This is also the first time that an unfurable antenna is being used in an Indian communication satellite, according to a report by The Times of India. [caption id=“attachment_2415092” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The GSAT-6 satellite. Image Credit: ISRO website[/caption] The satellite was launched by India’s heavy rocket geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle-Mark II (GSLV) and put into geo transfer orbit (GTO) on Thursday. The Times of India report quoted an ISRO official as saying that the process of activating the massive antenna, which weighs around 43 kg, was deployed in two stages with the initial one lasting for about 4 minutes and second for 23 minutes The antenna is one of the most advanced features of GSAT-6 satellite and will be utilised for five spot beams over the Indian mainland, which exploit the frequency reuse scheme to increase frequency spectrum utilisation efficiency. The satellite provides communication through five spot beams in S-band and a national beam in C-band for strategic users. The satellite’s life expectancy is nine years. ISRO also said the third orbit raising operation of GSAT-6 was successfully completed by firing the satellite’s onboard motors for nine minutes. (With agency inputs)