GSAT-7, the multi-band communication satellite
named Rukmani (Rukmini) is the first satellite developed by ISRO and the sixth
among the stack of seven INSAT-4 series communication satellites which was
designed, developed and fabricated by India. It carries the payloads in UHF, C-band and Ku band. The 2,650 kilograms GSAT-7 is the last of ISRO’s seven fourth-generation satellites. The multiple-band spacecraft will be used exclusively by the Navy to shore up secure, real-time communications among its warships, submarines, aircraft and land systems. GSAT-7 / INSAT-4F is said to significantly improve the country’s maritime security and intelligence gathering in a wide swathe on the eastern and western flanks of the Indian Ocean region. The satellite was launched early on 30 August 2013 atop an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.
Rukmini will provide networking capabilities
with various Indian Naval assets. During Theater-level Readiness and
Operational Exercise (Tropex-2015) in the Bay of Bengal in 2014, Rukmini was
able to network about 60 ships and 75 aircraft seamlessly. The intention of the
Indian Navy is to use this geostationary naval communication and surveillance
satellite to cover activities up to the Malacca Straits in the east and the
Hormuz Strait to the west. Rukmini has a nearly 2,000 nautical mile 'footprint'
over the Indian Ocean Region.
The Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar
released a stamp commemorating the indigenous Naval communication satellite
Rukmani, which is a dedicated Naval satellite, taking the Navy to the step in
achieving complete digitisation of communications. The Stamp Release took place
on board the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya on the occasion of two days’ of
Theatre Readiness Operational Level Exercise (TROPEX-2015), off the coast of
Goa in the Arabian Sea
