Space scientists on Monday raised the orbit of INSAT-4CR to 2983 km by remotely firing thrust motor on-board the satellite that was launched successfully on Sunday.
"The first orbit raising manoeuvre of Indian Space Research Organisation's latest satellite INSAT-4CR was successfully carried out by firing the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor on board the satellite for 27 minutes," a statement said.
Space scientists began the exercise at 8:17 am by commanding the satellite from Master Control Facility at Hassan in Karnataka.
All systems onboard the satellite are functioning normally, ISRO said.
With this operation, the perigee, nearest point to earth of the satellite has been raised to 2,983 km and the apogee, the farthest point from the earth to 31,702 km.
Two more orbit-manoeuvring exercises are expected to be carried out on Tuesday and on Thursday to put the satellite in a geosynchronous orbit at 36,000 km altitude from the earth.
