BENGALURU: In the first critical orbit-raising manoeuvre conducted on 30 September morning, the perigee (nearest point to Earth) of GSAT-10 satellite has successfully been raised from 250 km to 16,427 km by using the satellite’s on-board propulsion system.
Besides, the inclination of GSAT-10 with respect to the equatorial plane has also been brought down to 1.7 deg from the earlier 5.998 deg. In this operation, the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) was fired for duration of 1 hour 55 minutes. In the process, about 362 kg propellant was utilised.
This orbit raising operation began at 0428 hrs IST by commanding the satellite from ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan, Karnataka. GSAT-10 is in good health. The current orbital parameters of GSAT-10 are:
| Parameter (Unit) | Value |
| Perigee (km) | 16,427 |
| Apogee (km) | 35,758.7 |
| Inclination (deg) | 1.7 |
| Orbital Period | 16 hours 3 minutes |
It may be recalled that GSAT-10 satellite was launched on 29 September on-board Ariane-5 launch vehicle from Kourou, French Guyana.
The Second orbit-raising manoeuvre is planned in the afternoon of 1 October.
