Your guide to 1st Isro satellite launched in 2020

GSAT-30, an Indian communication satellite providing high-quality television, telecommunications and broadcasting services, was launched early Friday morning by Isro's longtime collaborator Arianespace.

SRO's new GSAT-30 satellite will replace an aging spacecraft launched in 2005 and provide India with communication services well into the 2030s.

Launched early Friday morning in French Guiana (scroll down for the video), GSAT-30 uses two satellite frequencies: it gives the Indian mainland and islands coverage in the Ku band and extended coverage in a wider area stretching from Australia to Europe in the lower-frequency C-band.

The Ku and C bands are part of a spectrum of frequencies, ranging from 1 to 40 gigahertz, that are used in satellite communications. Here's a useful graphic from the European Space Agency.

With a mission life of over 15 years, GSAT-30 "will provide DTH [direct-to-home] television Services, connectivity to VSATs [Very Small Aperture Terminals] for ATM, stock exchange, television uplinking and teleport services, Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and e-governance applications," Isro chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan said.

                                                           Read more