The satellite would help users in the fields of tele-medicine, tele-education, communication and weather forecasting. The GSAT-12, has 12 Extended C- band transponders and weighs 1410kgs. It has an expected mission life of seven years. The launch is scheduled at 1648 hrs on Friday from the Satish Dhavan Space Certre in Sriharikota.
The ISRO is using the most powerful version of PSLV configuration for this mission. The launch vehicle has four stages of alternate solid and liquid propulsion systems. The first stage also has six solid propellant strap-on motors (PSOM-XL), each carrying 12 tonnes of solid propellants for higher payload capability. AIR correspondent reports, the PSLV C-17 stands 44.4 metres tall and weighs more than 300 tonnes at lift-off. Speaking exclusively to AIR, ISRO spokesperson S. Satish said that all operations are proceeding normally.
During the countdown period, filling of liquid propellant for the second and fourth stage will be carried out. In addition certain mandatory checks on the launch vehicle as well as the spacecraft will also be performed.