ISRO's heaviest satellite GSAT-11 set for launch from French Guiana on 30 November

Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) heaviest satellite so far — the GSAT-11 — which the space agency had **cleared for launch** in June, will take off a spaceport in French Guiana on 30 November, media reports said. In June, ISRO had cleared the launch of GSAT-11, the satellite which was recalled from Kourou in French Guinea for more thorough checks, after losing contact with **another satellite** that was launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh in March this year. “After a series of negotiations, Arianespace has finally agreed to launch GSAT-11 this year itself and fix 30 November as the date of the launch.” The Times of India quoted ISRO chairman K Sivan as saying. The report said that GSAT-11 carries 40 transponders in the Ku-band and the Ka-band frequencies, and is capable of providing high bandwidth connectivity with up to 14 GB per second data transfer speed. [caption id=“attachment_4299555” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Representational image. Image courtesy: ISRO[/caption] The 5,700-kg GSAT-11 satellite was initially slated for launch on 26 May from Kourou, a site in South America which India uses to launch its heavy-weight satellites. In a major setback to ISRO, the space agency lost contact with its GSAT-6A satellite after it was launched in March 2018. Although ISRO had been trying to establish contact with GSAT-6A, a satellite meant for military communication, it has found little success. This also directly led to the ISRO recalling GSAT-11 for conducting thorough checks. “After a thorough check and additional tests, it was found fit for launch,” an ISRO official said.