GSAT-31 successfully launched from Kourou

CHENNAI: India’s 40th Communication Satellite  GSAT-31, weighing 2,535 kg, was successfully launched on  Wednesday morning by the Ariane-5 launch vehicle from
Kourou in French Guiana.

Reports here said about 42 minutes after lift off at 0231 hrs,  the GSAT-31 was separated and injected into Geosynchronous  orbit.

GSAT-31, which went as a lower passenger of Ariane-5, was a  telecommunication satellite designed and made by ISRO that  would provide communications services in Ku-band for at least  15 years.

GSAT-31 will essentially help bridge the digital divide in the Indian  subcontinent as part of an ambitious Indian space program, whose  objectives were to develop India, while pursuing science research  and planetary exploration. (agencies)