The Indian INSAT 4B satellite has been installed on its Ariane 5 launcher as preparations for Arianespace's upcoming heavy-lift mission move into their final phase.
INSAT 4B was mounted in the lower payload position on Ariane 5 this weekend, clearing the way for integration of the United Kingdom's Skynet 5A satellite as the upper payload.
This activity is taking place inside the Final Assembly Building at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, and will be followed by Ariane 5's rollout to the launch zone later in the week.
Seven satellites are planned for the INSAT-4 series. The transponder configuration of the series has been worked out after evaluating the requirement projected by different users/user departments.
INSAT will have about 225 active transponders in various frequency bands by 2007, which can cater to the demand up to 11 GBPS capacity with present day technology. The transponders on INSAT-4 series are distributed as follows:
