NEW DELHI: GSLV-D6 was on Sunday successfully positioned in its orbital slot, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said.
"GSAT 6 has been successfully positioned in its orbital slot of 83 Deg E and colocated with INSAT 4A, GSAT 12, GAAT 10 and IRNSS1C today," Isro said in a statement.
GSLV-D6 was lifted off from the Sriharikota spaceport at 4.52pm on August 27. GSLV-D6 lifted off from the Sriharikota spaceport at 4.52pm. About 17 minutes later, the rocket injected the 2,117kg satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.
The cryogenic stage is a complex system of very low temperatures that uses liquid hydrogen stored at -253 degrees Celsius as fuel, and liquid oxygen at -183 degrees Celsius as the oxidizer. Mixing these two, the engine is ignited to produce very high temperatures. This has remained the tricky part of the engine making.
After the successful launch in January 2014, then Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre director K Sivan had called the indigenous cryogenic engine a "naughty boy." On Thursday, GSLV-D6 project director R Umamaheswaran said, "The naughty boy has now become our most adorable boy".
All eyes were on this 'juvenile' as the rocket's second stage burned out after about five minutes of flight. After a pause, when the cryogenic engine ignited, there was a roaring applause. The next 12 minutes, when the engine propelled the satellite into space, were marked by a calm suspense that ended with the satellite being put into an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit with its nearest point to earth at 168km and the farthest at 35,939km. Soon, the satellite automatically deployed its two solar arrays, and Isro's master control facility in Hassan, Karnataka took control.
Isro scientists said the satellite's orbit will be raised in the coming days to its final circular geostationary orbit (36,000km) by firing its liquid apogee motor in stages.