Elon Musk led SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched India’s heavy communication satellite GSAT-20 (GSAT N-2) from Cape Canaveral in the US in the early hours of November 19.
The Falcon 9 lifted off at 12:01am on November 19 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and put the NSIL’s GSAT-N2 to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40). It is India’s first collaboration with Musk’s SpaceX.
According to ISRO, the satellite is equipped with 32 user beams, comprising 8 narrow spot beams over the Northeast region and 24 wide spot beams over the rest of India. These 32 beams will be supported by hub stations located within mainland India. The Ka-Band HTS communication payload provides a throughput of approximately 48 Gbps.
Liftoff of GSAT-N2! pic.twitter.com/4JqOrQINzE
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 18, 2024
The GSAT N-2 satellite features ka-ka transponders of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), which is the commercial arm of ISRO. Its capacity of 32 beams with 48 Gbps throughput will cover India, including Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands and cater to broadband and Inflight and Maritime Telecom Connectivity (IFMC) service needs of the country.
The NSIL, in a post on X said “GSAT-N2 weighing 4700 kg has been injected into the desired Geo-synchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) has taken control of the satellite. Preliminary data indicates the satellite is in good health.”
Deployment of @NSIL_India GSAT-N2 confirmed pic.twitter.com/AHYjp9Zn6S
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 18, 2024
The ISRO added, “The payload consists of three parabolic 2.5-meter deployable reflectors with multiple feeds generating 32 spot beams over the Indian region using a single feed per beam configuration.”
The GSAT-N2, with a lift-off mass of 4,700 kg, has a mission life of 14 years. It is the second demand-driven satellite of NSIL.
Earlier, India relied on France’s launch service provider Arianespace for heavy satellite launches, but since the company didn’t have any operational rockets at present, India opted for SpaceX whose Falcon 9 rocket can launch payloads of 8,300 kg or 8.3 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit.
According to SpaceX, it was the 19th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched SES-22, ispace’s HAKUTO-R MISSION 1, Amazonas-6, CRS-27, Bandwagon-1, and 13 Starlink missions.
