[1]An Indian rocket carrying the country's latest communication satellite GSAT-12 blasted off from the space port here, 80km north of Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai.
Under a cloudy sky, at 4.48 p.m. the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Rs.90 crore rocket - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C17 (PSLV-C17) - soared towards the heavens with a roar.
It ferried the Rs.80 crore GSAT-12 having 12 extended C-band transponders - automatic receivers and transmitters for communication and broadcast of signals.
Around 20 minutes into the flight the rocket is expected to place GSAT-12 in the intended sub geosynchronous transfer orbit (sub GTO).
The satellite with a life span of about eight years will augment transponder capacity of the Indian National Satellite (Insat) system which at present comprises of eight satellites - Insat-2E, Insat-3A, Insat-3C, Insat-3E, Insat-4A, Insat-4B (working at 50 percent capacity) Insat-4CR and GSAT-8 providing 175 transponders in the S, C, extend C and Ku bands.
The satellite is expected to serve the Very Small Aperture Terminal (V-SAT) sector. VSATs are used to transmit data like point of sale transactions or to provide satellite internet access.
It will also be useful for various communication services like tele-education, tele-medicine and for village resource centres.
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