INSAT-3B is 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 built and is operated 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...

.

Overview

INSAT – 3B is the first of the five ISRO built satellites under INSAT – 3 series to join INSAT system.It is based on the I-2000 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...

. This satellite primarily serves to business communication, mobile communication and developmental communication.it provides the first set to transponders for Swaran Jayanti Vidya Vikas Antariksh Upagraha Yojana (Vidya Vahini) for interactive training and developmental communication giving fillip to the training and developmental Communication channel of INSAT.

It is 3 – axis body stabilised in orbit using momentum and reaction wheels, solar flaps, magnetic torquers

Magnetorquer

In satellite systems, a magnetorquer or magnetic torquer is a system for attitude control, detumbling and stabilization built from electromagnetic coils...

 and eight 10 N and eight 22 N reaction control thrusters.

Its propulsion system consists of 440 N Liquid Apogee Motor

Apogee kick motor

An apogee kick motor refers to a rocket motor that is regularly employed on artificial satellites destined for a geostationary orbit. As the vast majority of geostationary satellite launches are carried out from spaceports at a significant distance away from Earth's equator, the carrier rocket...

 MON-3 (Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen)

Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen

Mixed oxides of nitrogen are solutions of nitric oxide in dinitrogen tetroxide/nitrogen dioxide . It may be used as an oxidizing agent in rocket propulsion systems. A broad range of compositions is available, and can be denoted as MONi, where i represents the percentage of nitric oxide in the...

 and MMH (MonoMethylHydrazine)

Monomethylhydrazine

Monomethylhydrazine is a volatile hydrazine chemical with the chemical formula CH3 NH2. It is used as a rocket propellant in bipropellant rocket engines because it is hypergolic with various oxidizers such as nitrogen tetroxide and nitric acid...

 for orbit raising.

Launch

Insat-3B was launched on the 128th flight of European launch vehicle, Ariane of Arianespace

Arianespace

Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial space transportation company. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane 5 rocket launcher as part of the Ariane programme....

, on 21 March 2000, at 23:28 GMT from ELA-3

ELA-3

ELA-3, short for Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 3 , is a launch pad and associated facilities at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guyana. ELA-3 is operated by Arianespace as part of the expendable launch system for Ariane 5 rockets...

 at Kourou

Kourou

Kourou is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America.Kourou is the location of the Guiana Space Centre, France and ESA's main spaceport.-Geography:...

 in French Guyana along with its co-passenger, a broadcast satellite, AsiaStar

AsiaStar

AsiaStar is an American communications satellite which is operated by 1worldspace. It was constructed by Alcatel Space and Matra Marconi Space based on the Eurostar E2000+ bus design. Launch occurred on 21 March 2000, at 23:28 GMT. The launch was contracted by Arianespace, and used an Ariane 5G...

, belonging to a US company, WorldSpace

WorldSpace

1worldspace, formerly known as 'WorldSpace', is a currently defunct satellite radio network that provided service to over 170,000 subscribers in eastern and southern Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia with 96% coming from India...

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Payload

• 12 extended C-Band Transponders each having a bandwidth of 36 MHz with power of 15 W
• Five Ku-band Transponders providing three channels, having a bandwidth of 77/72 MHz with power of 55W
• Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) operating in C/S band frequencies