GSAT-5P, or GSAT-5 Prime, was an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n communications satellite

Communications satellite

A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...

 which was lost in a launch failure in December 2010. Part of the Indian National Satellite System

Indian National Satellite System

INSAT or the Indian National Satellite System is a series of multipurpose Geo-stationary satellites launched by ISRO to satisfy the telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology, and search and rescue operations....

, it was intended to operate in geosynchronous orbit

Geosynchronous orbit

A geosynchronous orbit is an orbit around the Earth with an orbital period that matches the Earth's sidereal rotation period...

 as a replacement for INSAT-3E

INSAT-3E

INSAT 3E is a communication satellite built by Indian Space Research Organisation. It was launched on September 28, 2003 from the European Space Agency's spaceport in French Guiana on board the Ariane rocket. The satellite had a launch mass of 2750 kilograms...

.

Satellite

GSAT-5P was a 2310 kilograms (5,092.7 lb) spacecraft, which was built by the Indian Space Research Organisation

Indian Space Research Organisation

The Indian Space Research Organisation is an independent Indian governmental agency established in 1969 for the research and development of vehicles and activities for the exploration of space within and outside of Earth’s atmosphere. Headquartered in Bangalore...

 based around the I-2K satellite bus

Satellite bus

A satellite bus or spacecraft bus is the general model on which multiple-production satellite spacecraft are often based. The bus is the infrastructure of a spacecraft, usually providing locations for the payload .They are most commonly used for geosynchronous satellites, particularly...

. ISRO also launched the satellite, and was to have been responsible for its operation. It was equipped with 36 transponder

Transponder

In telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...

s operating in the G

G band

-NATO G band:The G band in the modern sense is the range of radio frequencies from 4 GHz to 6 GHz in the electromagnetic spectrum. This is equal to wave lengths between 7.5 cm and 5 cm...

/H band

H band

H band can refer to two different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, in the radio and near-infrared.-Radio:The H band is the range of radio frequencies from 6 GHz to 8 GHz in the electromagnetic spectrum. This is equal to wave lengths between 5 cm and 3.75 cm...

 of the NATO-defined spectrum, or the C band

C band

The C band is a name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band - and its slight variations - contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications...

 of the older IEEE spectrum. Twelve of the transponders operated on extended frequencies within the band. GSAT-5P was expected to operate for at least 12 years, and would have been placed at a longitude

Longitude

Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....

 of 55 degrees east.

Launch

The launch of GSAT-5P used a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle is an expendable launch system operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation...

 Mk.I, serial number

Serial number

A serial number is a unique number assigned for identification which varies from its successor or predecessor by a fixed discrete integer value...

 F06, and took place from the Second Launch Pad

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad

The Second Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre is a rocket launch site in Sriharikota, India. It is the second of two launch pads at the centre, the other being the First Launch Pad...

 at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre

Satish Dhawan Space Centre

The Satish Dhawan Space Centre is the launch centre for the Indian Space Research Organisation . It is located in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India, north of Chennai in South India. It was originally called Sriharikota High Altitude Range , and was sometime known as Sriharikota Launching Range...

. The rocket featured several modifications from previous flights, including an enlarged upper stage with more fuel to accommodate a heavier payload, and an enlarged composite

Composite material

Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...

 payload fairing

Payload fairing

Payload fairing is one of the main components of a launch vehicle. The fairing protects the payload during the ascent against the impact of the atmosphere . More recently, an additional function is to maintain the cleanroom environment for precision instruments.Outside the atmosphere the fairing is...

 with a diameter of 4 metres (13.1 ft) in place of the regular 3.4 metres (11.2 ft) aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 fairing.

The launch was originally scheduled for 20 December 2010, but was delayed to allow a leaking valve on the upper stage to be repaired. Following the repair of the leak, the launch was rescheduled for 25 December 2010. The countdown began 06:34 UTC on 24 December 2010. and launch occurred at 10:34 UTC on 25 December.

Failure

Forty five seconds after launch the four liquid fuelled boosters attached to the first stage ceased responding to commands, resulting in a loss of control. Sixty three seconds into the flight, the Range Safety Officer

Range Safety Officer

In the field of rocketry, Range Safety Officer is a generic term referring to an individual who monitors the performance of rockets in flight, and who is responsible for their remote destruction if it should be judged that they pose a hazard...

 activated a self-destruct mechanism aboard the rocket, causing it to explode. Debris from the launch fell into the Bay of Bengal

Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...

. It was the second consecutive launch failure involving a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, following the loss of GSAT-4

GSAT-4

GSAT-4, also known as HealthSat, was an experimental communication and navigation satellite launched in April 2010 by the Indian Space Research Organisation on the maiden flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.II rocket. It failed to reach orbit after the rocket's third stage...

in April 2010.