ISRO's heaviest satellite GSAT-11 set for launch from French Guiana on 30 November

Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) heaviest satellite so far — the GSAT-11 — which the space agency had cleared for launch in June, will take off a spaceport in French Guiana on 30 November, media reports said.In June, ISRO had cleared the launch of GSAT-11, the satellite which was recalled from Kourou in French Guinea for more thorough checks, after losing contact with another satellite that was launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh in March this year."After a series of negotiations, Arianespace has finally agreed to launch GSAT-11 this year itself and fix 30 November as the date of the launch." The Times of India quoted ISRO chairman K Sivan as saying. The report said that GSAT-11 carries 40 transponders in the Ku-band and the Ka-band frequencies, and is capable of providing high bandwidth connectivity with up to 14 GB per second data transfer speed.[caption id="attachment_4299555" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Representational image. Image courtesy: ISRO[/caption]The 5,700-kg GSAT-11 satellite was initially slated for launch on 26 May from Kourou, a site in South America which India uses to launch its heavy-weight satellites.In a major setback to ISRO, the space agency lost contact with its GSAT-6A satellite after it was launched in March 2018. Although ISRO had been trying to establish contact with GSAT-6A, a satellite meant for military communication, it has found little success.This also directly led to the ISRO recalling GSAT-11 for conducting thorough checks."After a thorough check and additional tests, it was found fit for launch," an ISRO official said.