INSAT-3D moves closer to its final orbit

INSAT-3D moves closer to its final orbit

TWO days after its launch. INSAT-3D. India's advanced weather satellite, has reached an intermediate orbit which is much closer to the 36.000 km high geostationary' orbit, its final orbital home, Indian Space Research Organisation said on Sunday. INSAT-3D was launched by Ariane-5 launch vehicle in the early hours of July 26 into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a perigee (nearest point to earth) of 250 km and an apogee (farthest point to earth) of 35,923 km.

The inclination of INSAT-3D's orbit with respect to the equatorial plane was 3.495 deg.

Following this, two major orbit raising manoeuvres were performed on INSAT-3D from ISRO's Master Control Facility (MCF) in Hassan in Karnataka on Saturday and Sunday by firing the satellite's Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM).

In the critical first orbit manoeuvre performed on Saturday. INSAT-3D's LAM was fired for 65 minutes.