ISRO’s next will boost internet speeds! All about Gsat-11, agency’s heaviest satellite to launch in space on November 30

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch its heaviest satellite, the Gsat-11 weighing over 5.7 tonnes (5,700 kg) from the European spaceport in Guiana on November 30. A report in The Times of India said that the communication satellite, once placed into its orbit, will help increase internet speed.

ISRO chairman K Sivan told the daily that Arianespace has agreed to launch the satellite this year itself. “After a series of negotiations, Arianespace has finally agreed to launch Gsat-11 this year itself and fix November 30 as the date of launch,” he said.

The satellite was recalled earlier in April this year to fix “possible” glitches. The ISRO had taken this unusual measure to recall the satellite following the failure of the Gsat-6A satellite around the same time.

The recall decision that had led to deferment of its launch, had sparked a controversy when a senior ISRO scientist said that the launch of the heaviest satellite was “unnecessarily” delayed.

The satellite had reached Arianespace in March and was slated to lift-off on May 25, but the country’s space agency deferred it due to additional checks.

Gsat-11 is the advanced communications satellite to provide multi-spot beam coverage over the Indian mainland and nearby islands. The satellite is capable of providing high bandwidth connectivity with up to 14 gigabit per second data transfer speed.