Tweet
Telecast of educational programmes by the satellite INSAT-4CR to many States — which have been affected by “interference in the ground equipment at the user-end” — will resume in a few days, said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials on Thursday. ISRO teams were looking into the problem, they said. “There is no problem with the space segment [viz., the satellite],” they said.
The VICTERS channel — which exclusively transmits educational programmes in Kerala — run by the IT@School resumed the telecast of programmes on Thursday afternoon. It was not able to telecast the programmes from February 3.
The States, where telecast of educational programmes have been affected, include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Technical problem
Among the users in Karnataka are the 186 engineering colleges under the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), accounting for two lakh students. VTU Vice-Chancellor H. Maheshappa told The Hindu that ISRO had informed the university of a technical problem. “ISRO told us that the transponder had to be switched off and that they are looking into the matter.”
ISRO officials said there were about 55,000 school and college classrooms, which were in the EDUSAT network, providing education to students in rural and remote areas. EDUSAT, put into orbit by ISRO in September 2004, should have had a mission life of seven years. It was, however, decommissioned in 2010 because problems arose with the satellite, they said. EDUSAT was alive only for six years. So ISRO shifted beaming the educational programmes from EDUSAT to INSAT-4CR towards the end of 2010.
“The present shutdown in the telecast of educational programmes was due to interference in some signals in the ground segment at the user-end, that is, educational institutions. ISRO teams are analysing the problem and we hope to resume the telecast in a few days,” the officials said.
In Kerala, the transmission of educational programmes, including “SSLC Orukkam” and “Haritha Vidyalayam,” were hit. Also disrupted were training sessions for Deputy Collector's examinations and the interactive coaching sessions for the examinations of the State Public Service Commission.
‘Not totally cut off'
Educational content is telecast over VICTERS from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. “We were not totally cut off because we also stream over the Net on www.victers.itschool.gov.in,” Anvar Sadath, executive director of the IT@School programme said. In November 2010, when VICTERS switched over from EDUSAT to INSAT-4CR, there was a 10-day disruption, he said. “Such disruptions will only serve to hurt the credibility of VICTERS. There needs to be a robust system in place to ensure that the transmission of educational programmes is not hit in any manner,” Mr. Sadath added. Asked why the decommissioning of EDUSAT, which took place before it completed its mission-life, was kept under wraps, ISRO officials said the satellite had completed six out of seven years of its projected lifespan.
Exposure to radiation
Communication satellites, which are put into geo-stationary orbit, are exposed to radiation in outer space at an altitude of 36,000 km. Besides, some times, more propellants are spent in raising the satellites' orbit. Propellants are expended for house-keeping operations, including keeping the communication satellites faced towards India all the time. “Some geo-stationary satellites, therefore, are not able to complete their mission life. Others live several years longer than their projected lifespan,” an ISRO engineer explained.
Fifty per cent of the transponders on INSAT-4B were not functioning from 2010 because of a power anomaly resulting from one of its two solar panels not generating energy, he said.
INSAT-4B was put into orbit in March 2007.
The VICTERS channel — which exclusively transmits educational programmes in Kerala — run by the IT@School resumed the telecast of programmes on Thursday afternoon. It was not able to telecast the programmes from February 3.
The States, where telecast of educational programmes have been affected, include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Technical problem
Among the users in Karnataka are the 186 engineering colleges under the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), accounting for two lakh students. VTU Vice-Chancellor H. Maheshappa told The Hindu that ISRO had informed the university of a technical problem. “ISRO told us that the transponder had to be switched off and that they are looking into the matter.”
ISRO officials said there were about 55,000 school and college classrooms, which were in the EDUSAT network, providing education to students in rural and remote areas. EDUSAT, put into orbit by ISRO in September 2004, should have had a mission life of seven years. It was, however, decommissioned in 2010 because problems arose with the satellite, they said. EDUSAT was alive only for six years. So ISRO shifted beaming the educational programmes from EDUSAT to INSAT-4CR towards the end of 2010.
“The present shutdown in the telecast of educational programmes was due to interference in some signals in the ground segment at the user-end, that is, educational institutions. ISRO teams are analysing the problem and we hope to resume the telecast in a few days,” the officials said.
In Kerala, the transmission of educational programmes, including “SSLC Orukkam” and “Haritha Vidyalayam,” were hit. Also disrupted were training sessions for Deputy Collector's examinations and the interactive coaching sessions for the examinations of the State Public Service Commission.
‘Not totally cut off'
Educational content is telecast over VICTERS from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. “We were not totally cut off because we also stream over the Net on www.victers.itschool.gov.in,” Anvar Sadath, executive director of the IT@School programme said. In November 2010, when VICTERS switched over from EDUSAT to INSAT-4CR, there was a 10-day disruption, he said. “Such disruptions will only serve to hurt the credibility of VICTERS. There needs to be a robust system in place to ensure that the transmission of educational programmes is not hit in any manner,” Mr. Sadath added. Asked why the decommissioning of EDUSAT, which took place before it completed its mission-life, was kept under wraps, ISRO officials said the satellite had completed six out of seven years of its projected lifespan.
Exposure to radiation
Communication satellites, which are put into geo-stationary orbit, are exposed to radiation in outer space at an altitude of 36,000 km. Besides, some times, more propellants are spent in raising the satellites' orbit. Propellants are expended for house-keeping operations, including keeping the communication satellites faced towards India all the time. “Some geo-stationary satellites, therefore, are not able to complete their mission life. Others live several years longer than their projected lifespan,” an ISRO engineer explained.
Fifty per cent of the transponders on INSAT-4B were not functioning from 2010 because of a power anomaly resulting from one of its two solar panels not generating energy, he said.
INSAT-4B was put into orbit in March 2007.