Insat 2A was India's first indigenously built
satellite. The satellite was launched on 9 July 1992 from Kourou, French
Guyana. The satellite had a dry mass of 916kg and it weighed 1906 kg
with propellants. The satellite had following payload:
Communication Transponders: 12 C-band, 6 ext. C-band (for FSS),
2 S-band (for BSS), 1 Data relay, 1 search and rescue.
Meteorology: Very High Resolution Radiometer (VHRR) with 2 km
resolution in visible and 8 km in Infrared band.
The Insat 2 program was started in 1983. Its objective was to develop
an indigenous multi-purpose Geo spacecraft. In 1985, the basic
spacecraft configuration was adopted. The configuration called for an
on-station dry mass of 860 kg which later rose to 910 kg. The
communications payload was increased with six additional 7/5 GHz
transponders for a total of 18, plus two S-band transponders. The Insat
2 series consisted of Insat 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, and 2E satellites.
