ll parametres on India's Advanced Communication Satellite, GSAT 10, are functioning normally. The satellite will take about another four days to reach its Geo Synchronous orbit and will be operational by November this year.

GSAT-10 was successfully launched early yesterday on board Ariane-5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana. It has a design life of 15 years. It will augment telecommunication, Direct-To-Home and radio navigation services. It was ISRO's 101st space mission. It is fitted with 30 transponders, 12 Ku-band, 12 C-band and six Extended C-Band, which will provide vital augmentation to INSAT and GSAT transponder capacity.

The government today said that a dedicated communication satellites for Indian Navy and Air Force will be launched in the next two years . This was informed by Defence Minister A K Antony in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. He said the satellites will be armed with the capability of providing real time data from multiple sites.

He said that the Tri-services Defence Communication Network (DCN) is being progressed as per the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP). DCN envisages a network of optical fibre cables, satellite earth stations and transportable and portable satellite terminals with high security features.

Replying to a question on testing of Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) he said, "Pinaka was test fired on 28-29 March. Ten Rockets were fired. Objective of the trial was testing of fuse system. 

Developed by DRDO, Pinaka weapon system has already been inducted into Service with the Indian Army raising its two regiments.

The countdown has commenced for the launch of PSLV-C19 launch vehicle carrying India's first Radar Imaging Satellite called RISAT-1. The Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, started the 71 hour countdown at 6.47 am today. An Indian Space Research Organisation release says that the launch will be on the 26th of this month at 5.45 am. During the Countdown, propellant-filling operations of the liquid propellant second stage and fourth stage of the launch vehicle will be carried out.

The ISRO sources said that RISAT 1 satellite, fitted with Synthetic Aperture Radar, can take pictures of the earth at all times, through rain, sun, clouds, fog and cyclones. The pictures from RISAT-1 would be used to estimate the crop yields. The satellite's images can also be used for disaster management during cyclones and floods, to assess the area inundated. RISAT-1's life-span is five years.

European Union leadersvoiced grave concern at North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programmes and called on it to scrap a long-range rocket launch scheduled for next month. European Council Presidenthe was deeply worried by the North's plan to launch a satellite. Van Rompuy urged the impoverished but nuclear-armed state to divert more resources to feed its people instead of developing costly weapons programmes.

  Numerous leaders including US President Barack Obama called on the North to scrap the launch, intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding president Kim Il-Sung.
Pyongyang on Tuesday said it would go ahead with the test, reiterating its position that the launch is a peaceful scientific project.