The propellant filling operations are in the finishing stages and the geo-synchronous launch vehicle, GSLV D5 is scheduled to lift off at 4.50 this evening. The launch vehicle carrying GSAT-14 will begin its journey from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, and will put the satellite in space just 17 minutes and 8 seconds after the launch. ISRO officials said that the countdown and propellant filling operations were progressing satisfactorily.

The first two stages of GSLV has been retained and since GSAT is a heavier satellite and weighs 1982 kilograms, the third stage uses cryogenic propulsion. The communication satellite has six extended C band and six Ku band transponders to bolster India’s communication transponder capacity.

With just a few hours to pass on for the count down, GSAT 14 will join the nine other operational geo- stationary satellites. ISRO has also plans to launch GSAT 15 and 16 satellites in the near future. Official sources said that the department of space leases the transponders in INSAT/GSAT satellites through Antrix Corporation which is the commercial arm of the department. In 2012 13 the revenue was Rs.482 crores approximately. The revenue is from service providers of Direct to Home services,TV Uplink services, Digital Satellite news gathering and Very small aperture terminals. The revenue does not include tele-education, tele-medicine, village resource centre, disaster management and part of public broadcasting services.