Sriharikota sources reported that to the disappointment of many the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Saturday lost contact with the GSAT-6A communication satellite which was launched on rocket GSLV-F08 on March 29. According to sources the second orbit raising operation of GSAT-6A has been successfully carried out by Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) Engine firing for about 53 minutes on March 31, in the morning.
The space agency said on its website that after the successful long duration firings, when the satellite was on course to normal operating configuration for the third and the final firing, scheduled for April 1, communication from the satellite was lost, and currently the ISRO is working to establish link with the 'lost' satellite. Moreover as per report in its biggest launch of home-made communications satellite, the ISRO on Thursday launched rocket GSLV-F08 carrying the GSAT-6A communication satellite from Sriharikota, about 110 kms from Chennai.
Accordingly GSAT-6A, is similar to GSAT-6, a high power S-band
communication satellite built on I-2K satellite bus with a mission life of
about ten years and further the satellite was designed to provide a platform
for developing technologies such as demonstration of 6 m S-Band Unfurl-able
Antenna, handheld ground terminals and network management techniques that could
be useful in satellite based mobile communication applications.
