GSAT-11 BY ISRO

Weighing about 5,854 kg, the GSAT-11, built by ISRO, is to enable much faster Internet services than now to users down home over the next 15 years.

As most of India’s heaviest and most advanced communication satellite, GSAT-11, was shot to space from a European spaceport in French Guiana. The mission of the 5,854-kg giant ‘bird’ is to enable much faster Internet services than now to users down home over the next 15 years.

The large high-throughput satellite (HTS), along with two smaller HTS satellites GSAT-19 and GSAT-29, will kick off effective satellite-based broadband services in remote, hitherto uncovered rural areas of the country.

The lift-off of GSAT-11 and a South Korean co-passenger satellite on European space vehicle Ariane 5 VA246 was watched and cheered by the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, K. Sivan.

GSAT-11, described by the space agency as a giant satellite, is the heaviest ever built by ISRO.

The new ‘big bird’ adds 40 more transponders, 32 in the Ku band and eight in the Ka band being introduced newly in an Indian satellite.

Enabling in-flight Internet and village web services are the government’s other goals. By enabling rural high-speed connectivity, the HTS satellite also promises to bridge the urban-rural digital divide.

The space agency described GSAT-11 as a “forerunner in the series of advanced communication satellites with multi-spot beam antenna coverage” over the mainland and islands.

Since 1981, Arianespace has put to space 22 Indian communication satellites (including GSAT-11).