Indian communication satellite to be launched by Arianespace on Wednesday

European space agency Arianespace on Wednesday will put into orbit two communication satellites belonging to India and Malaysia in geostationary orbit.

The two satellites weighing cumulatively 10,863 kg will be flown by Ariane 5 rocket early June 22 from the spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, said Arianespace.

GSAT-24 built by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is a 24-Ku band communication satellite weighing 4,180 kg with pan India coverage for meeting the direct-to-home (DTH) application needs.

The Indian government owned enterprise NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) has leased the entire satellite capacity to Tata Play.

The NSIL is undertaking GSAT-24 satellite mission as its first demand driven mission post space reforms.

The GSAT-24 will be the 25th Indian satellite orbited by Arianespace.

On September 28, 2021, NSIL entrusted Arianespace with the launch of its GSAT-24 telecommunications satellite, the European Space Agency had said earlier.

According to Arianespace, the other satellite MEASAT-3d is a multi-mission telecommunications satellite built by Airbus Defence and Space for MEASAT, a Malaysian satellite operator.

This new satellite will significantly enhance broadband speeds of up to 100 Mbps in areas with limited or no terrestrial network or in rural areas in Malaysia.

Planned for more than 18 years of operation, MEASAT-3d is designed to have electrical power of 12 kW.

It will carry C- and Ku-band payloads for direct-to-home (DTH) services and a high-throughput Ka-band payload with multiple user spot beams optimised to deliver high speed broadband communications over Malaysia for internet connectivity.

Apart from this, the satellite will also host a Q/V band payload, the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, which allows MEASAT to study propagation effects in high rainfall regions like Malaysia, to enable the design of its next generation satellites, Arianespace said.