BANGALORE: The Indian Space Research Organisation‘s (Isro) communication satellite Insat-4B, which became fully operational in April, will be dedicated to the nation on 8 June by president APJ Abdul Kalam in Hassan, Karnataka, says Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair.

Insat-4B was successfully launched by Ariane-5 ECA on 12 March from Kourou, French Guiana.

Additionally, Insat-4CR, the replacement for Insat-4C, which crashed into the Bay of Bengal a short while after lift-off in July 2006, is likely to be put into orbit by the second half of this year, Nair has stated. The tentative launch period for Insat-4CR is September, Madhavan says.

Madhavan also revealed that the assembly work on Chadrayan-1, ISRO‘s ambitious moon mission, had commenced and the launch was expected in 2008. An agreement for including European instruments was signed with the European Space Agency on June 25, 2005 and an MoU was signed with the NASA on inclusion of two US scientific instruments, the mini SAR and M3.

Madhavan further said that the current scheduled launches of the INSAT series was sufficient to meet with the present requirements of television companies.

Madhavan was at Raj Bhavan, Bangalore for the inauguration of VTU‘s interactive VSAT channel (VTU‘s second channel, the first one being DTH on the same satellite) by the Karnataka governor today on Isro‘s education dedicated satellite – Edusat.

Insat-4B was successfully launched by Ariane-5 ECA on 12 March from Kourou, French Guiana. The first critical orbit raising maneuver was completed on 13 March when the satellite was placed into intermediate orbit. The third and the final orbit raising was conducted on 16 March. After placing INSAT-4B in near-geosynchronous orbit, the deployment of its two solar panels and two antennas was successfully completed.

The two solar arrays of INSAT-4B together generate 5,860 W of electrical power. The two antennas are used for various transmit and receive functions. INSAT-4B drifted towards its final orbital position of 93.5 deg E. where it is co-located with INSAT-3A. The Sun group has seven Ku band transponders, while Prasar Bharati‘s FTA DD Direct Plus has five on the same satellite.