India’s latest communication satellite, INSAT-3E, has been flown out for an end-August launch aboard an Ariane launch vehicle from the French Guyanese spaceport of Kourou in South America.
INSAT-3E is the fourth satellite to be launched in the INSAT-3 series. INSAT-3E carries 24 C-band transponders and 12 extended C-band transponders. When commissioned, the satellite will substantially enhance the INSAT system capacity, which now provides about 120 transponders in C-band, extended C-band, Ku-band and S-band.
Flight 162 from Kourou is slated to launch INSAT-3E, meant for telecom and TV coverage, and two other payloads – Eutelsat’s e-BIRD and European Space Agency’s SMART-1, Arianespace sources said. INSAT-3E’s scheduled launch comes around four-and-half months after the successful launch of INSAT-3A on 10 April.