Science: Space Technology: New Bird in the Sky

The launch of a vastly improved INSAT satellite in March will be the test of scientists' credibility.

Next month, space scientists will keep their fingers firmly crossed as the gleaming gold and blue INSAT-2E, India's indigenously-built communications satellite, is ejected into orbit by the European-built Arianne launcher.

For the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) the success of the Rs 220-crore satellite is crucial for many reasons. With INSAT-2D failing within four months after lift-off in 1997, the ISRO satellite team has to prove that it has overcome the catastrophic on-board power failure that caused 2D's premature demise. Also, as ISRO Chairman K. Kasturirangan points out, "2E is the forerunner of the third generation of INSAT satellites and marks the beginning of a new era of long-life mission spacecraft that we are moving to."

INSAT-2E

INSAT-2E: BRISTLING WITH HI-TECH

INSAT-2E is billed as India's most sophisticated indigenously-built communications satellite
2E is designed to last for 12 years compared to seven years for other satellites in the INSAT series
Its transponders are capable of beaming over a much wider area which stretches from central Europe to Australia
Its two-in-one capability also allows it to provide data for far more accurate weather forecasting and disaster warning

Bristling with the latest in transponder technology to beam back television, telephone and radio signals apart from a powerful radiometer used for weather forecasting, 2E, weighing as much as three Maruti 800s (2.5 tonnes), is the most advanced satellite in the INSAT series that ISRO has built so far. The INSAT or Indian Satellite System programme which began in the '80s with the launch of four bought up satellites from the US is designed to meet the country's satellite-based telecommunications services. And in a unique two-in-one configuration it is also used for weather forecasting, providing daily images of cloud cover over the subcontinent.

The made-in-India tag came with the INSAT-2 series, the first of which -- 2A -- was launched in 1992. Barring 2D, all the other three indigenously built satellites in the series worked well. Today the Indian system has five operational satellites (1D is still operational and to make up for the loss of 2D, the Government has leased Arabsat). With 63 transponders working, INSAT is now among the largest domestic satellite systems in Asia.

With the demand for transponders escalating, 2E will not only meet much of the domestic growth but will cater to the international needs of the region. Eleven of its 17 transponders are being leased out to Intelsat for the next 10 years for a fee of $10 million (Rs 42 crore) every year. Which means if all goes well ISRO can recover the cost of the satellite within five years. The 2E's communications package is also far more sophisticated than its brethren. For one, many of its transponders would be operating on a much wider beam which means that the satellite will cover countries in central Europe as well as east Asia and even Australia. Anyone residing in these countries can tune in to Indian channels. The transponders can either broadcast about 100 digitally compressed TV channels at a time or provide 12,000 two-way voice links or a suitable mix of both -- far more than what the earlier series offered.

The 2E has other plus points. Its camera resolutions are superior, making weather predictions far more reliable. As A. Bhaskaranarayana, project director of INSAT-2E, puts it, "What this satellite will do is of immense interest to areas relating to cyclone analysis, local severe storm monitoring, heavy rainfall forecast and estimation, snow detection and long-term climatic studies." And best of all, it can stay up for as long as 12 years as compared to seven that the previous INSAT-2 satellites were built for. The INSAT-3 series, which also includes a set of five satellites, will be based on the technology that 2E validates and for India's space programme it is vital that the satellite functions well.

Meanwhile, 1999 is going to be a busy year for the space department. In April there are plans to launch India's first full fledged satellite, Oceansat or irs-P4, dedicated for oceanographic applications. It is also said to have some military uses if needed. It is to be launched by the indigenously built Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. If both the INSAT and Oceansat missions go smoothly India is well on its way to become a space power of some repute early in the next millennium.