Test feature in May 5 missions is a tool to cut fuel load & space launch costs This week's space mission, GSAT-9 or the South Asia Satellite, will carry a new feature that will eventually make advanced Indian spacecraft far lighter. It will even lower the cost of launches tangibly in the near future. The 2,195-kg GSAT-9, due to take off on a GSLV rocket on May 5, carries an electric propulsion or EP system. The hardware is a first on an Indian spacecraft. M.Annadurai, Director of the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bengaluru, explained its immediate and potential benefits: the satellite will be flying with around 80 kg of chemical fuel - or just about 25% of what it would have otherwise carried. Managing it for more than a decade in orbit will become cost efficient. In the long run, with the crucial weight factor coming down later even for sophisticated satellites, Indian Space Research Organisation can launch them on its upcoming heavy rockets instead of sending them to
Some description and analysis about present scenario with taking view of past history