ISRO completes three orbit-raising manoeuvres of its telecommunication satellite GSAT-30

The ISRO said it has successfully completed the three orbit-raising manoeuvres of **communication satellite GSAT-30** on Monday, which was launched on **17 January onboard Ariane 5 rocket** from French Guiana. The space agency said the cumulative duration of operation of the propulsion system for these manoeuvres was two hours and 29 minutes. Due to these manoeuvres, the ISRO succeeded in placing the satellite in an orbit close to its operational orbit. [caption id=“attachment_7899941” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] GSAT-30 being tested in a clean room at the Space Applications Centre. Image: ISRO[/caption] “The satellite solar panels and antennas have been deployed and the satellite is placed in an orbit with a perigee (nearest point from Earth) of 35,826 km and an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of 35,913 km with an inclination of 0.11 degree, which is very close to its operational orbit,” ISRO said in a statement. With a mission life of 15 years, GSAT-30 is an operational communication satellite for DTH, television uplink and VSAT services. The ISRO has said the communication payload of GSAT-30 is specifically designed and optimised to maximise the number of transponders on the spacecraft bus. GSAT-30 will provide DTH television services, connectivity to VSATs for ATM, stock-exchange, television uplinking and teleport services, Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and e-governance applications. The satellite will also be used for bulk data transfer for a host of emerging telecommunication applications, ISRO chairman K Sivan had said on the day of its launch.