New Delhi: The first orbit-raising operation of the GSAT-2, the experimental communication satellite placed in an orbit on May 8 by the country's own Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV-D2, was successfully carried out on May 9 morning.

The operation was carried out by commanding the 1800-kg satellite from Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka, an official release said.

Multiple orbit-raising operations are planned on GSAT-2 to raise it from its current Geo-Synchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) to the Geo-Synchronous Orbit (GSO).

The GSLV-D2 had lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, taking its second developmental test flight. The vehicle successfully placed GSAT-2 in an orbit of 180 km perigee (nearest point to Earth) and 36,000 km apogee (farthest point from Earth).

The orbit-raising operation was carried out by firing the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor on board the satellite for a duration of 47 minutes 30 seconds.

With this, the orbital perigee of GSAT-2 is at 8,850 km and the apogee remains at 36,000 km, it said, adding the orbital period of the satellite now is 13 hours 20 minutes.

PTI