ISRO’s GSLV lifting off on Dec. 19, carrying the GSAT-7A satellite. Photo: ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched the GSAT-7A communication satellite on Thursday at 4:10 p.m. local time. The satellite was carried using India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F11), and lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, India.

According to the release, GSAT-7A is the heaviest communications satellite India has launched. GSAT-7A is ISRO’s 39th Indian communication satellite, which aims to provide services to Ku-band users over the Indian region. Most of the functional requirements of the communication payloads and the other systems have been derived from ISRO’s earlier Geostationary Orbit (GEO) INSAT/GSAT satellites.

Today’s launch was ISRO’s 7th mission in 2018, as well as the 13th flight for the GSLV-MkII launch vehicle.