India to launch communication satellite GSAT-6A

India would launch its latest communication satellite GSAT-6A on Thursday, a Space Official said on Wednesday.

“The state-owned Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch GSAT-6A into space via its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota,’’ he said.

The launch will take place around 5p.m. local time on Thursday and the satellite would be put into orbit some 20 minutes later, the official added.

GSAT-6A is a powerful S-band communications satellite and the second in the so-called series, the first being the GSAT-6.

It will help provide seamless mobile communication for India.

The space agency said that the satellite’s life span would be around a decade.

ISRO had in January successfully launched as many as 31 satellites in a single mission from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota.

In 2017, it launched 104 satellites in a single mission.

All but three of the satellites were from foreign countries, most of them from the U. S.