NEW DELHI, 21 September 2004 — India yesterday successfully placed into geo-stationary orbit its first satellite dedicated to spreading education.
The 1,950 kg Edusat satellite was launched by the GSLV-F01 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) that blasted off at 4.01 p.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, about 450 km southeast of Delhi.
“We have got a perfect launch. I hope in the next few days we will have major operations running,” P.S. Goel, director of the satellite centre, told reporters.
“It will be another beautiful bird in the sky spreading education.”
Scientists of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said the satellite was placed in orbit 17 minutes after blast off.
The satellite, built with a mission life of seven years, will help train teachers and provide primary and university education in remote regions, said S. Krishnamurthy, spokesman for the ISRO. The satellite will be co-located with Kalpana-1 and INSAT-3C satellites in the same orbit.
There was all-round jubilation at the space center as the 49-meter-tall, 414-ton three-stage GSLV-F01 rose into the sky. The satellite was placed at the 36,000 km high orbit by firing in stages its on-board liquid apogee motors.
The agency in January announced a 900 million-rupee ($19.5 million) project to use satellites to offer literacy instruction. Some 350 million of India’s billion-plus people cannot read and only 13 percent finish high school.
India began the literacy project through the communications satellite INSAT-3A which is currently in orbit. The service will be shifted to the new satellite.
EDUSAT will initially link universities from three states — southern Karnataka, western Maharashtra and central Madhya Pradesh. In the second phase the satellite will reach two more states and connect more than 1,000 classrooms.
The space program expects educational institutions and research agencies eventually to help fund the satellite.
