Indian Space Research Organisation’s multi-purpose satellite, INSAT-3A, was successfully placed in a Geosynchronise Transfer Orbit today.The satellite was put in its intended orbit by Ariane-5, 30 minutes after blast-off from Kourou, French Guyana at 4.22 am. The Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka picked up the telemetry signal from the satellite at 4.52 am. The initial health checks indicated that its performance was normal, a press release from ISRO said.The first operations were carried out by issuing commands from the MCF and the outer-most panel of the stowed solar array of INSAT-3A was oriented towards the sun to start generating the power required by the satellite. It is being tracked, monitored and controlled from the MCF and it utilises INMARSAT organisation’s ground stations at Beijing, Fucino and Lake Cow Chan. This is the 160th flight of Ariane carrying the 2950-kg INSAT-3A.
