The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch a high power S-band communication satellite GSAT-6A on Thursday at the behest of the country's armed forces. The 2,000 kg satellite will provide mobile connectivity anywhere in India using multi-beam coverage.

It will complement the GSAT-6, which has been orbiting since August 2015 at a longitude of 83 degrees East; its planned mission life is about 10 years.

"The satellite will provide a platform for developing technologies such as the demonstration of a 6-meter S-Band Unfurlable Antenna, handheld ground terminals and network management techniques that could be useful in satellite-based mobile communication applications," ISRO said in a statement.

The GSAT-6A's 'unfurlable antenna' is developed by the ISRO's Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad. GSAT-6A will also have a smaller 0.8-meter antenna for communication in the C band. The unfurlable antenna would be utilized with five spot beams over the Indian mainland and very small handheld devices would be required to be used for data, video or voice transfer.

Owing to the topographical challenges across the Indian terrain, soldiers on many occasions encounter breaks in commutation. The GSAT-6A would give a much-needed quality and security to the communication among soldiers operating in diverse terrain and topographic conditions ranging from deserts to snow-clad mountains.

In 2013, ISRO had launched the GSAT-7- a dedicated communications satellite for the maritime forces.

Source: Xinhua News

Related Links
ISRO
Read the latest in Military Space Communications Technology at SpaceWar.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Studies prove superior performance of HTS for government customers
McLean VA (SPX) Mar 14, 2018
High-throughput satellite (HTS) constellations have quickly become transformative technology for satellite communications, far surpassing the bandwidth speed and throughput possible with existing satellite communications. Earlier this month SatCom Frontier published a story explaining the difference between open vs. closed HTS architecture. Open architecture systems give government end users more control over their data and more flexibility regarding how to take advantage of HTS technology. We als ... read more