Rapid Fire
India’s Satellite Launch by SpaceX
- 20 Nov 2024
- 1 min read
Recently, India’s GSAT-N2 (GSAT-20) communication satellite was successfully launched by SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, US.
- Falcon-9 launched the GSAT-N2 into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), an elliptical orbit with an altitude of around 37,000 km, which is the first step toward reaching a geosynchronous or geostationary orbit (GSO).
- The spacecraft circularises the GTO orbit by turning parallel to the equator at apoapsis and firing its rocket engine to reach GSO.
- Apoapsis is the point in an orbit when an object is farthest away from the body it is orbiting.
- The spacecraft circularises the GTO orbit by turning parallel to the equator at apoapsis and firing its rocket engine to reach GSO.
- This is India’s first collaboration with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
- The satellite belongs to NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), which is the commercial arm of ISRO.
- NSIL has been mandated to build, launch, own and operate satellites in “demand-driven mode” to meet service needs of the user.
- The GSAT-N2 is the 2nd demand-driven satellite of NSIL. Its first demand-driven satellite was GSAT-24 launched in June 2022.
