The GSAT-24, a 4,000 kg class Ku-band satellite with all transponders dedicated for DTH services, will be launched by the Ariane-5 from Europe’s Arianespace early next year. “The entire satellite capacity on-board GSAT-24 will be leased to its committed customer  M/s Tat Sky for meeting their DTH application needs,” an NSIL statement said Friday.

The satellite will be owned and operated by NSIL, which will also be the intermediary agency between ISRO, Arianespace and Tata Sky.

NSIL, which has been created to commercialize research work and capabilities of the ISRO, is looking to merge as an Indian communications satellite operator by taking over ISRO satellite to provide DTH and broadband services to customers on demand.

In March this year, the official of NSIL – incorporated in 2019 – had stated that two deals were in the pipeline with a DTH operator and a broadband provider in India.

NSIL official had said on March 12 that it will take over two communication satellite to be launched by ISRO and is in talks with the space department to take over ISRO’s fleet of communication satellites. “Shortly, NSIL will finalise requirements for new satellites in consultation with various users and start procuring, owning, launching and providing services, primarily in the communication sector. We are also in an advanced stage of discussion with DoS to take ownership of two new communication satellites,” NSIL Chairman and MD G Narayanan had stated.

“In a press release on July 14, ISRO stated that the objectives and the engine parameters matching with the predictions, hence the performance met the expectations for the entire duration of the test.”

GSLV MkIII-M1 had successfully launched the 3840 kg Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft into an earth orbit on July 22, 2019. It was ISRO’s first operational flight of the GSLV MkIII.  The recent test was a part of the engine qualification requirements for India’s first-ever crewed space mission ‘Gaganyaan Programme’  which will be the first human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), marking the beginning of an era of sustained Indian human space exploration. Two unmanned missions and one manned mission for the programme have already been approved by the Governement of India (GoI). The Gaganyaan Space programme will cost an estimated Rs 9023.00 crores.

“The Gaganyaan Programme is going tobe a major National effort. The overall programme coordination systems engineering and implementation will be carried out by India’s ISRO,” the agency explained.

According to ISRO, the VIKAS Engines (an acronym for Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai) is a family of liquid-fuelled rocket engines which are conceptualized and designed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre beginning in the 1970s.