On November 2, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the GSAT-7R satellite for the Indian Navy. The satellite’s launch mass was 4,410 kg — rendering the launch the heaviest of a communications satellite from Indian soil. For this mission, ISRO used its LVM-3 rocket, the most powerful yet in its stable of launch vehicles.

India’s communications satellites are heavy because they combine wide coverage, high power, and long service life in one spacecraft.

To serve the entire country and nearby seas, the communications payload needs to support many channels across multiple frequency bands. These are typically the C (4-8 GHz), the Ku (12-18 GHz), and sometimes the Ka (27-40 GHz) bands. This in turn requires several large deployable antennas, high-power amplifiers, waveguides,

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