Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)'s 4,000-kilogram communication satellite CMS-03 was launched on Sunday. Weighing around 4,410 kg, the satellite is the heaviest ever launched into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) from Indian soil, the space agency said. The satellite was launched by an LVM3-M5 rocket nicknamed “Baahubali” for its heavy lifting capacity.
ISRO launched the 4,400 kg satellite by Baahubali rocket today on November 2 at 5:26 pm. This is the heaviest satellite ever launched into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) from Indian soil. It will further strengthen the communications capabilities of the Navy.
GTO (29,970 km x 170 km) is an elliptical orbit. After the rocket leaves the satellite in this orbit, the satellite's engine will fire after 3-4 days and orbit the satellite. This is called Geostationary Orbit (GEO). A satellite in this orbit can provide 24 hours coverage.
Earlier, ISRO sent a 3,900 kg payload to GTO in the Chandrayaan-3 mission. The world's heaviest satellite sent to GTO is EchoStar 24 (Jupiter 3). It weighed around 9,000 kilograms at the time of launch. It was launched on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket.
Bengaluru-based space agency ISRO said the launch vehicle has been fully assembled and integrated with the spacecraft and moved to another launch site here for pre-launch operations. ISRO said the 43.5-metre long spacecraft, nicknamed “Baahubali” for its ability to carry a heavy payload of up to 4,000 kilograms, was launched on Sunday evening. It added that LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-3) is ISRO's new heavy-lift launch vehicle and will be used to cost-effectively place the 4,000 kg spacecraft into the GTO.
This is ISRO's fifth operational flight
ISRO said LVM3-M5 is its fifth operational flight. Earlier ISRO launched its heaviest communication satellite, GSAT-11, using an Ariane-5 VA-246 rocket from the Kourou launch facility in French Guiana on 5 December 2018. Weighing around 5,854 kg, GSAT-11 is the heaviest satellite built by ISRO.
