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NSE trading hit by INSAT-2D snag; might resume on Monday

Trading at the National Stock Exchange in Bombay was suspended on Friday following a technical snag which developed in the INSAT-2D satellite on Wednesday. The satellite lost contact with the Master Control Facility at Hassan, near Bangalore, affecting all services connected through the Very Small Aperture Satellite Terminal (VSAT). The NSE network was also hit as 779 VSATs out of its 1600 VSATs are linked via the INSAT.

National Stock Exchange Managing Director Ravi Narain said on Friday that NSE hopes to resume trading on Monday, October 6. "We have been assigned transponder number 13. Earlier, we were on 14. The problem arose as all the even number transponders went dead, whereas the odd ones were functioning normally," said Narain.

On Friday morning, part of INSAT-2D had been recovered. "We should be able to resume normal trading on Monday," he added.

After developing the snag, INSAT-2D satellite was switched off on Thursday after it lost the earth lock following an anamoly in one of the two power buses on board.

Narain allayed fears among brokers who have left their positions open since Wednesday. The settlement cycle of NSE ends on Tuesday. "As we are very hopeful of starting trading by Monday, these brokers should have no problems in squaring their positions," he said.

Trading at the permitted securities segment of the Over The Counter Exchange of India was also paralysed on Thursday as a result of the satellite snag.

The permitted securities segment was shut on Thursday due to the snag, said Shashi Nambiar of OTCEI.

To a question on trading in the listed securities segment, Nambiar stated that since trading on this segment is done using telephone lines, there is no problem. "Trading is going on smoothly on the listed securities segment," he said.

He expressed relief that the brokers will not have to suffer losses as a result of open positions as the last settlement of OTCEI got over on Wednesday. "All positions were squared, so we needn't worry," he said.

He added that OTCEI was in touch with the authorities in the Department of Telecommunication and the Indian Space Research Organisation. "We have a contingency plan ready to meet any eventuality," he said.

The Calcutta Stock Exchange has also suspended trading due to the communications failure caused by the INSAT-2D switch-off on Thursday. An official note said there would be no trading until the online system is restored.

Meanwhile, the Indian Space Research Organisation has switched on three C band transponders on board the INSAT-2D which had developed a snag in the power bus distributing energy to various subsystems on Wednesday night.

ISRO sources said on Thursday that satellite controllers at the ISRO Master Control Facility at Hassan were monitoring the behaviour of the satellite which went out of earth lock after 2200 hours on Wednesday, October 1, following the snag.

All the payloads were switched off after the MCF regained earth lock of the satellite on Thursday morning.

Out of the total 23 transponders on board the satellite, only six of them were loaded. While three of them have been provided for linking Very Small Aperture Satellite Terminals, three others have been linked to the Department of Telecommunications. The mission controllers were in the process of transferring the transponder capacities to other INSAT spacecrafts.

The sources said the satellite was still under the control of the MCF and the performance of the transponders was being studied. The behaviour of the payload need to be studied as half of the power supply of the satellite had been affected due to the anomaly believed to be caused by a short circuit. In case it could not be rectified, the satellite might have to be abandoned, the sources added.

The VSAT links provided to the National Stock Exchange from INSAT-2D were being shifted to another spacecraft, the sources said.

The ISRO telemetry, tracking and command station in Bangalore had successfully raised the orbit of IRS-1D by about 60 km by firing the thrusters on board the satellite during the last few days. The satellite, which was successfully hurled into the space by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from Sriharikota on September 29, was functioning well and all the systems were responding to the command from the satellite controllers, the sources said.

Efforts were being made to raise the orbit which was 820 km by 301 km at the time of the launch so that the optimum use of the satellite could be made. Though the satellite was intended to be placed at a circular orbit of 817 km, it could be effectively used only if the orbit was raised beyond 550 km.

The reception of data from the camera payloads, however, would not be affected, the sources said. The thrusters would be continued to be fired for small durations during the next few weeks to achieve the optimum results, the sources added.

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INSAT-2D may have to be abandoned