RE: Tentative launch schedule of ISRO
Deferred GSAT-18 awaits October launch at Kourou - NATIONAL - The Hindu
GSAT-18, the country’s upcoming communication satellite, has to wait until October in Kourou in French Guiana for launch after its Japanese co-passenger was found damaged days ahead of the launch planned this month.
The 3.4-tonne satellite would have flown into its orbit on July 12 on a European Ariane 5 rocket along with the Japanese spacecraft.
The launch company, Arianespace, deferred the scheduled double-launch after Japan’s Superbird-8 spacecraft reportedly sustained damage.
Next GSAT-17
The three-month gap would not affect the available national satellite capacity. The next one, GSAT-17, also by Arianespace, is getting ready for blast-off in the first quarter of 2017, Mr. Kumar told Hindu.
[size=medium]Health monitoring[/size]
Meanwhile, GSAT-18 remains at the Guiana Space Centre while most of the satellite’s engineering support team that accompanied it from Bengaluru has returned. A small team has stayed back to monitor the health of the spacecraft.
Post-launch, GSAT-18 will be positioned at
74 degrees East longitude, where the older INSAT 4CR (launched in 2007) and INSAT-3C (of 2002) are functioning.