{"id":119342,"date":"2025-11-03T12:48:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/119342\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T12:48:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:48:11","slug":"indias-new-naval-sentinel-up-in-the-sky-gsat-7r-strengthens-maritime-communications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/119342\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s New Naval Sentinel Up\u00a0In\u00a0The\u00a0Sky-GSAT-7R Strengthens Maritime Communications\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a major boost to India\u2019s maritime security network, the Indian Space Research\u00a0Organisation\u00a0(ISRO) on 2nd November successfully launched the Indian Navy\u2019s latest communication satellite GSAT-7R<\/a>, designated CMS-03, aboard its heavy-lift rocket LVM3 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at\u00a0Sriharikota.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a04.4-tonne\u00a0satellite, India\u2019s most advanced military communication spacecraft to date, will enhance the Navy\u2019s real-time communication and surveillance capabilities across the\u00a0Indian Ocean Region (IOR).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: ICEYE Opens Access To Its Flood Rapid Impact Data After Hurricane Melissa<\/a><\/p>\n

At 5:26 p.m., the three-stage LVM3 rocket, standing 43.5\u00a0metres\u00a0tall and weighing 642\u00a0ton, lifted off from the second launch pad in a textbook-style mission. About 16 minutes later, it successfully injected GSAT-7R into its intended orbit, drawing applause and cheers from mission control.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Major Boost for India\u2019s Stratcomm Capacity<\/p>\n

After the launch, ISRO\u00a0Chairman\u00a0and Secretary, Department of Space, Dr. V. Narayanan said:\u00a0\u201cI am happy to announce that LVM3 has successfully injected the CMS-03 satellite into its intended orbit.\u201d\u00a0 Congratulating the ISRO team and industry\u00a0partners, \u00a0Narayanan\u00a0noted that this marks the\u00a0eighth consecutive successful mission\u00a0of the LVM3 rocket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Highlighting the achievement, he said the\u00a0CMS-03 satellite weighs about 4.4\u00a0ton, and the rocket\u2019s\u00a0payload capacity has been enhanced by 10%. The satellite is expected to provide services for\u00a015 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Narayanan also\u00a0emphasised\u00a0another\u00a0technological milestone\u00a0\u2014 the\u00a0reignition of the first chamber of the rocket\u2019s cryogenic stage, enabling\u00a0multi-orbit launches.\u00a0Added\u00a0M. Mohan, Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, the\u00a0cryogenic engine was successfully restarted in a hard vacuum, allowing greater flexibility for future satellite missions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mohan\u00a0also mentioned that the CMS-03 carries\u00a0the largest propellant tank\u00a0ever used by ISRO.\u00a0Looking ahead, Narayanan said ISRO plans\u00a0seven more launches before the end of this fiscal year. The\u00a0next mission, scheduled for the\u00a0second week of December, will use an\u00a0LVM3 rocket\u00a0to place a\u00a0customer satellite\u00a0(BlueBird\u00a0satellite belonging to AST\u00a0SpaceMobile, US)\u00a0into orbit.\u00a0Subsequent\u00a0missions will involve\u00a0polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV), small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) and\u00a0gensynchronous\u00a0satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) rockets, including the launch of the\u00a0geoimaging\u00a0satellite GISAT.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He further revealed that a\u00a0PSLV rocket\u00a0will soon carry a\u00a0technology demonstration satellite\u00a0to test\u00a034 new space technologies. The\u00a0PSLV jointly built by HAL and L&T\u00a0is currently being assembled and is slated to fly within this fiscal year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regarding\u00a0India\u2019s human space mission,\u00a0Gaganyaan,\u00a0Narayanan confirmed that\u00a0one of the three uncrewed test missions\u00a0will take place\u00a0this fiscal year, featuring the\u00a0robot astronaut\u00a0Vyommitra. Most of the required hardware has already reached the launch site, and\u00a0assembly activities are underway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CMS-03-\u00a0Boost to the Indian Navy\u2019s\u00a0Secure\u00a0Communication\u00a0Network\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Indian\u00a0Ministry of\u00a0Defence, GSAT-7R will provide robust telecommunication coverage across the IOR through high-capacity transponders capable of supporting\u00a0voice, data, and video links\u00a0over multiple communication bands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

GSAT-7R will replace\u00a0GSAT-7 \u2018Rukmini\u2019, a 2.65-ton satellite launched in 2013 by Arianespace\u2019s Ariane-5 rocket. Together with\u00a0GSAT-7A, already serving the Indian Air Force, the new satellite will further\u00a0consolidate\u00a0India\u2019s network of dedicated\u00a0defence\u00a0communication satellites.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Smart Tweak for a Heavy Payload\u00a0<\/p>\n

Notably,\u00a0GSAT-7R\u00a0is the heaviest communication satellite ever launched from Indian soil. The\u00a0LVM3, typically rated to carry around 4\u00a0tons\u00a0to a\u00a0Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), was able to loft the heavier satellite thanks to an innovative mission design tweak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead of the conventional\u00a036,000 km\u00a0apogee, the\u00a0GTO apogee\u00a0for this mission was set at about\u00a029,970 km\u00a0(\u00b13,700 km). Former ISRO\u00a0Chairman\u00a0Dr. S. Somanath\u00a0explained that the satellite would use its own propulsion system to reach the final\u00a0Geostationary Orbit (GSO), a more efficient approach overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, a retired ISRO official noted that using the satellite\u2019s onboard fuel for orbit raising could marginally reduce its operational life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Solid morale booster after setbacks\u00a0<\/p>\n

The successful mission comes as a morale booster for ISRO following a series of costly failures in orbiting strategic satellites earlier this year. The agency lost\u00a0EOS-09\u00a0(worth \u20b9850 crore) on 18th May 2025, and\u00a0NVS-02\u00a0(\u20b9300 crore) on 29th\u00a0January 2025, which was meant to replace the ageing\u00a0IRNSS-1E\u00a0in India\u2019s regional navigation system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2021, India lost the\u00a0GISAT-1\u00a0satellite when the\u00a0GSLV-F10\u00a0rocket\u2019s cryogenic stage\u00a0failed to\u00a0ignite, and in 2017, the\u00a0IRNSS-1H\u00a0mission failed after a\u00a0PSLV\u00a0heat shield malfunction trapped the satellite inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" Published by Venkatachari Jagannathan\u00a0<\/p>\n

V.Jagannathan (Byline Venkatachari Jagannathan), is a freelance journalist based in Chennai, India covering the country\u2019s space, nuclear, insurance, automobile and several other industries. Jagannathan was with IANS newswire, one of India\u2019s premier news agencies and his articles \u2013 news, news analysis, interviews, profiles and others- on various sectors were published in several leading print, online publications within and outside India. He was also with India\u2019s first online business magazine www.domain-b.com. A school and college chess player Jagannathan also writes about Indian chess and has covered World Chess Championships, Chess Olympiads and others.<\/p>\n

All posts by Venkatachari Jagannathan\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a major boost to India\u2019s maritime security network, the Indian Space Research\u00a0Organisation\u00a0(ISRO) on 2nd November successfully launched…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[61,60,43,82,247],"class_list":["post-119342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}