On April 10, 1982, India’s first multi-purpose satellite, INSAT-1, was launched. It was designed to last 7 years, however, it lasted for 17 months. The India Space Research Organisation contracted NASA for the launch. And the satellite was built by the American company Ford Aerospace. It was operated in geostationary orbit and set a record despite a series of failures and being abandoned in September 1982.
The launch occurred at 06:47 UTC on 10 April 1982, from Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The satellite was successfully inserted into geosynchronous transfer orbit, from which it raised itself into geostationary orbit. It received the International Designator 1982-031A and Satellite Catalog Number 13129.
Launch issues
Following its launch, INSAT-1A had some initial problems deploying its antennas, solar array, and stabilization boom. The C-band antenna could not be deployed for twelve days, and the solar array failed to extend fully, preventing the spacecraft from generating enough power to conduct weather observation. The satellite’s S-band transponders subsequently overheated and failed. The stabilization boom failed to deploy altogether. Early in the satellite’s mission, a fault in a valve in its attitude control system was detected which caused the spacecraft to expend propellant at a greater rate than expected. On 4 September 1982 the satellite’s primary earth-tracking sensor was temporarily deactivated to protect the system while the sun passed through its field of view. Owing to the failure of the stabilization boom, the backup sensor was not oriented in the correct direction, instead of being oriented towards the moon, which overloaded it and shut down the sensor.
Other details
The satellite had a mass of 1152.1 kilograms. The telecommunications package of INSAT-1A provided two-way, long-distance telephone circuits and direct radio and television broadcasting to the remotest areas of India. It had 12 transponders operating at certain frequencies for remote area communication and television program distribution. It had two transponders for direct broadcasting to augment low-cost community television sets in rural areas, radio-program distribution, national television networking, and disaster warning.
The data collection and transmission package of INSAT-1A consisted of a data channel to provide for the relay of meteorological, hydrological, and oceanographic data. It was from unattended land-based and ocean-based data collection and transmission platforms. The meteorology package was composed of a scanning very-high-resolution, two-channel radiometer (VHRR) to provide full-frame, full-Earth coverage every 30 minutes. The visible channel had a 2.75-kilometer resolution, and the infrared channel had an 11-kilometer resolution. These observations were used for monitoring weather systems over land and sea.
Credits for details- abplive
