Jun 23, 2022

Today, 23rd June 2022 @ 03.20 Hrs IST, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a CPSE under Department of Space, successfully undertook the launch of GSAT-24 communication satellite on-board Ariane-V [VA257 flight] from Kourou, French Guiana. The VA257 flight in addition to GSAT-24 satellite of India also carried Measat-3d communication satellite from Malaysia as other co-passenger

GSAT-24 is a 24 Ku band communication satellite meant for meeting the Direct-To-Home (DTH) communication needs of the country. Satellite weighed 4180 kg at lift-off and has mission life of 15 years. NSIL has leased the entire satellite capacity to M/s Tata Play for a period of 15 years. The entire funding for the GSAT-24 mission has been borne by NSIL.

After nearly 40 minutes of flight, GSAT-24 satellite was successfully injected into its intended Geo-Synchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) with Perigee: 250 km and Apogee: 35825 km.

Post-separation of GSAT-24 satellite, ISRO's Master Control Facility at Hassan, Karnataka took control of the satellite and initial data received indicates good health of the satellite. In the coming days, the orbit of GSAT-24 satellite would be raised from GTO (Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit) to Geo-Stationary Orbit (GSO), through a series of orbit raising manoeuvres using satellite’s on-board propulsion system.

“Today’s successful mission of GSAT-24 is a major step forward for NSIL in commercially meeting the DTH communication needs of the country using indigenously built satellite solutions from ISRO,” Dr S Somanath, Secretary DOS said.

With the successful launch of GSAT-24, NSIL will be owning and operating nearly 11 Communication Satellites in-orbit and would meet the bulk of the communication needs of the country. GSAT-24 is the first of the many Demand Driven Missions, that NSIL would undertake in the coming years.