Indian Navy to bolster space-based communication with indigenous GSAT-7R satellite

New Delhi [India], November 2 (ANI): Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is scheduled to launch the Indian Navy's GSAT-7R (CMS-03) communication satellite on Sunday. The satellite would strengthen the Navy's space-based communications and maritime domain awareness capabilities.
GSAT-7R will provide robust telecommunication coverage across the Indian Ocean Region. Its payload includes transponders capable of supporting voice, data, and video links over multiple communication bands. This satellite will significantly enhance connectivity with high-capacity bandwidth, enabling seamless and secure communication links between ships, aircraft, submarines, and Maritime Operations Centres of the Indian Navy.
The indigenously designed and developed satellite would be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. This satellite is India's heaviest communication satellite to date, weighing approximately 4,400 kg, and includes many indigenous state-of-the-art components developed specifically to meet the Indian Navy's operational requirements.
"In an era of complex security challenges, GSAT-7R represents the Indian Navy's determination to protect the nation's maritime interests, leveraging advanced technology through Aatmanirbharta," the Ministry of Defence said in an official statement.
CMS-03 is a multi-band communication satellite that will provide services over a wide oceanic region including the Indian landmass, according to ISRO.
The satellite will be launched by the famous LVM3 launch vehicle, which landed India successfully on the lunar South Pole in the Chandrayaan-3 mission. This will be the vehicle's fifth operational flight.
The launch is set to take place from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Station in Sriharikota at 5:26 PM, which will be streamed live on ISRO's YouTube channel.
The launch vehicle had been assembled earlier and has been on the launch pad since October 26 for pre-launch operations.
The LVM3-M5 launch will have 8 sequences, with the CMS-03 being separated from the vehicle at an altitude of around 179 kilometre, at a velocity of around 10 km per second.
The launch vehicle has a height of 43.5 meters, having a lift off mass of 642 tonnes total. The vehicle uses three stages of propellants to enable the satellite to reach the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). (ANI)