The first orbit raising operation of GSAT-29 satellite has been successfully carried out today (15th November) by firing the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) engine of the satellite at 0834 Hrs IST for a duration of 4875 seconds.

The first of its scheduled three orbit raising operations was successfully carried out by firing the liquid apogee motor on board the satellite, it said.

The motor was fired at 8.34 a.m. for one hour and 35 minutes.

The GSAT-29, which will link Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states under the Digital India programme, was put into orbit by India's latest and heaviest rocket geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-Mk III/D2) on Wednesday.

Orbit Determination Results from this LAM firing are:

Apogee X perigee height was changed from 35897 km X 189 km to 35745 km X 7642 km.
Inclination was changed from 21.46 deg to 8.9 deg.
Orbital period is 13 hours.

Apogee refers to the farthest point from the earth and perigee is the closet point to earth in case of a satellite in orbit.

GSAT-29 satellite with a lift-off mass of 3423 kg, is a multi-beam, multi-band communication satellite of India, configured around the ISRO’s enhanced I-3K bus. This is the heaviest satellite launched from India.

GSAT-29 carries Ka/Ku-band high throughput communication transponders which will bridge the digital divide of users including those in Jammu & Kashmir and North Eastern regions of India. It also carries Q/V-band payload, configured for technology demonstration at higher frequency bands and Geo-stationary High Resolution Camera. carried onboard GSAT-29 spacecraft. An optical communication payload, for the first time, will be utilised for data transmission.

ISRO