Master Control Facility
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The Master Control Facility (MCF) is a facility set up by the
Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...
(ISRO) in the city of
Hassan Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scottis ...
in the
Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...
of
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
. Established in 1982, this facility is responsible for monitoring and controlling geostationary and geosynchronous satellites launched by ISRO. This was the only Master Control Facility of ISRO till another one was established in
Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
in 2005.


Establishment

When ISRO wanted a control facility, it inspected various sites that were offered to it within India. ISRO chose Hassan as the locatio
(Location on Google Maps)
because it was free of noise and encountered less terrestrial transmission than other proposed sites. Low interference was a must since the facility should be able to pick up even very weak signals from the
satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
. The land to set up this facility was spread across 17.2 hectares and offered by the
Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...
.


Internal divisions

The MCF has three internal divisions; the ''Spacecraft Control Centre'', ''Mission Control Centre'' and the ''Earth station''.


Spacecraft Control Centre

This centre is responsible for controlling satellites and various commands are sent from this centre to the satellite to undertake the desired operations.


Mission Control Centre

This centre plays a major role main during the launch of the satellite and its initial period in space. This is the place where the Mission Director and the different designers of the various modules in the satellite keep a watch on the functioning of the satellite. They do this by studying and comprehending the various parameters of satellite via telemetry signals that the satellites send, related to the health of its various modules. In case of any deviation from the prescribed limits of the parameters, an automatic alarm is sounded and the respective designers discuss with the Mission Director and send corrections to the satellite from this centre.


Earth station

MCF has an integrated facility consisting of seven earth stations. The earth stations are assisted by an antenna array which provide the communication link between the satellite and the MCF (The link from earth station to satellite is UPLINK and from satellite to earth station is DOWNLINK). The MCF has 3 full-motion and about a dozen limited-motion antennas. The full-motion antennas can be turned around 360° and can be tilted from zero° to 90° in elevation. They send commands to the satellite, receive signals from it, thereby also helping to check that the satellite is in orbit. The full motion antennas are mostly used during the satellite launch and once the satellite is in its prescribed orbit, the limited motion antennas take over the communication link with the satellite.


Satellites

Currently MCF controls the following 19 satellites: INSAT-3C,
KALPANA-1 Kalpana-1 was the first dedicated meteorological satellite launched by Indian Space Research Organisation using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on 12 September 2002. The satellite is three-axis stabilized and is powered by solar panels, getting u ...
,
INSAT-3A INSAT-3A, a multipurpose satellite built by ISRO was launched by Ariane (rocket family), Ariane in April 2003. It is located at 93.5 degree East longitude. It is third satellite in INSAT-3 series after INSAT-3B & INSAT-3C. Built at a cost of $53 mn ...
,
INSAT-4A INSAT-4A was the first one in the INSAT-4 Satellites series, providing services in the Ku and C band frequency bands. At the time of launch, it was the heaviest satellite India had produced. The Ku transponders cover the Indian main land and C-Ba ...
,
INSAT-4B INSAT-4B was an Indian communications satellite which forms part of the Indian National Satellite System. Launched in 2007, it was placed in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 93.48° East. Built by the Indian Space Research Organisation, INS ...
,
INSAT-4CR INSAT-4CR was a communications satellite operated by ISRO as part of the Indian National Satellite System. Launched in September 2007, it replaced the INSAT-4C satellite which had been lost in a launch failure the previous year. The satellite wa ...
,
GSAT-8 GSAT-8 or INSAT-4G is communication satellite. It was constructed by the Indian Space Research Organisation, as part of INSAT system. GSAT-8 was launched on May 21, 2011, from Kourou, French Guiana. The rocket, an Ariane 5 was the carrier, marke ...
,
GSAT-12 GSAT-12 is communication satellite designed and developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation. It is the second satellite to be launched and placed on a GTO using PSLV. Satellite GSAT-12 is considered to be a replacement of the aged satel ...
,
GSAT-10 GSAT-10 is an Indian communication satellite which was launched by Ariane-5ECA carrier rocket in September 2012. It has 12 KU Band, 12 C Band and 6 lower extended c band transponders, and included a navigation payload to augment GAGAN capacity ...
,
IRNSS-1A IRNSS-1A is the first navigational satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) series of satellites been placed in geosynchronous orbit. Satellite The satellite has been developed at a cost of , and was launched on 1 J ...
, INSAT-3D,
GSAT-7 GSAT-7 or INSAT-4F is a multi-band military communications satellite developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation. The Indian Navy is the user of the multi-band communication spacecraft, which has been operational since September 2013. Acc ...
,
GSAT-14 GSAT-14 is an Indian communications satellite launched in January 2014. It replaced the GSAT-3 satellite, which was launched in 2004. GSAT-14 was launched by a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.II, which incorporated an Indian-built cr ...
,
IRNSS-1B IRNSS-1B is the second out of seven in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) series of satellites after IRNSS-1A. The IRNSS constellation of satellites is slated to be launched to provide navigational services to the region. It ...
,
IRNSS-1C IRNSS-1C is the third out of seven in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) series of satellites after IRNSS-1A and IRNSS-1B. The IRNSS constellation of satellites is slated to be launched to provide navigational services to the ...
,
GSAT-16 GSAT-16 is the 11th Indian communication satellite, meant to increase the number of transponders available for satellite-based telecommunication, television, and VSAT services in India. GSAT-16 is similar to GSAT-15 with each satellite weighing 3, ...
IRNSS-1D IRNSS-1D is a satellite in the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) constellation. The satellite is the fourth of seven in the constellation, launched after IRNSS-1A, IRNSS-1B and IRNSS-1C. The satellite is the only satellite ...
,
GSAT-6 INSAT-4E, also known as GSAT-6, is a member of the INSAT family and is a multimedia communication satellite that will offer a Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (S-DMB) service across several digital multimedia terminals or consoles which ca ...
and
GSAT-15 GSAT-15 is an Indian communication satellite similar to GSAT-10 to augment the capacity of transponders to provide more bandwidth for Direct-to-Home television and VSAT services. It was successfully launched on 10 November 2015 at 21:34:07  ...
satellites. Of these 19 satellites 16 are controlled from MCF Hassan and three are controlled from MCF Bhopal ( INSAT-3C,
INSAT-4CR INSAT-4CR was a communications satellite operated by ISRO as part of the Indian National Satellite System. Launched in September 2007, it replaced the INSAT-4C satellite which had been lost in a launch failure the previous year. The satellite wa ...
and
GSAT-12 GSAT-12 is communication satellite designed and developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation. It is the second satellite to be launched and placed on a GTO using PSLV. Satellite GSAT-12 is considered to be a replacement of the aged satel ...
.) In October 1997, the MCF lost contact with the INSAT-2D satellite which was a serious blow to ISRO. This glitch also affected the National Stock Exchange at
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
which had to suspend trading on 3 October 1997 till the
VSAT A very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) is a two-way satellite ground station with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3.8 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Bit rates, in most cases, range from 4 kbit/s up to 16 ...
terminals which it depended on were transferred to INSAT-2A.Previously, this facility also controlled ISRO's earlier generation of satellites, like the INSAT-1B. GSAT-10 was successfully launched on 29 September 2012 at 2:48 am (IST) on board Ariane-5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana. It has been put in its defined slot of 83° East. GSAT-10 carries the 12 high power Ku-band transponders, 6 extended C-Band Transponders each having a bandwidth of 36 MHz with power of 15 W, 12 C-Band transponders and GAGAN Navigation payload.


INSAT Master Control Facility

The INSAT Master Control Facility is one of the centers of
Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...
, which is responsible for post-launch operations on INSAT, GSAT and IRNSS satellites including orbit manoeuvres, station-keeping, on-orbit and decommissioning operations. INSAT MCF of ISRO are located at two locations,
Hassan Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scottis ...
in the South Indian state of
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
and at
Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
in
Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
. At present, the centers support on-orbit operations of INSAT-3C, KALPANA-1, INSAT-3A, INSAT-4A, INSAT-4B, INSAT-4CR, GSAT-8, GSAT-12, GSAT-10, IRNSS-1A, INSAT-3D, GSAT-7, GSAT-14, IRNSS-1B, IRNSS-1C, GSAT-16, IRNSS-1D, GSAT-6 and GSAT-15 satellites.


Notes


External links


Master Control Facility (MCF) - Official Website
{{coord missing, Karnataka Indian Space Research Organisation facilities 1982 establishments in Karnataka Buildings and structures in Hassan district