Overview
- ISRO published onboard video showing CMS-03 (GSAT-7R) cleanly separating from the LVM3-M5 upper stage into geosynchronous transfer orbit.
- The satellite, launched on November 2 from Sriharikota, is India’s heaviest communication payload placed into GTO from domestic soil at about 4,400–4,410 kg.
- Mission operations call for a series of orbit-raising manoeuvres before commissioning for Indian Navy use over its planned 15-year service life.
- GSAT-7R carries UHF, S, C and Ku-band transponders to provide secure voice, data and video links for ships, submarines, aircraft and Maritime Operations Centres with coverage out to roughly 2,000 km from the coast.
- The system is intended to strengthen maritime domain awareness across the Indian Ocean Region by feeding the IMAC, which is being expanded into a National Maritime Domain Awareness platform under a push for greater defence-space self-reliance.