New satellites are game changers

Tapan Misra, director of the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, where the GSAT-19 satellite has been designed, calls it “a game changer communications satellite for India”.

If it succeeds, the single GSAT19 satellite will be equivalent to having a constellation of 6-7 of the older variety of communication satellites in space. Today out of a constellation of 41 in-orbit Indian satellites, 13 are communication satellites. 

“A truly ‘made in India’ satellite that will empower a digital India that is in the making,” says Misra on GSAT-19 which will be launched by India’s heaviest rocket till date, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III (GSLV MkIII). This is India’s rocket of the future as it will undoubtedly carry Indian astronauts likely to be named ‘gaganauts or vyomanauts’. 

On its maiden mission, the monster rocket will ferry GSAT-19 satellite which is in a technological class that has no parallels in India. The satellite weighing 3,136 kg is equal to the weight of a single elephant being lofted into space. In fact scientists at ISRO suggest that GSAT-19 is just a trailer, the real movie which is the GSAT-11 satellite will go up in a few months and that is a mighty communications platform. It weighs 5.8 tons and since India still does not possess a space truck big enough to send it in orbit, it will be launched using the Ariane-5 rocket from Kourou in South America.