Ariane flight VA246

GSAT-11 was in the upper position. The telecommunication satellite is the first satellite based on the I-6K satellite bus, and had a liftoff mass of 5,854.5 kilograms (12,907 lb). It was designed and manufactured by ISRO and will be operating for a design lifetime of more than 15 years from the 74° East orbital position, where it will be providing telecommunications services to the Indian subcontinent with Ku- and Ka-band multi-beam coverage.[1]

GSAT-11 was initially foreseen on board Ariane flight VA243, which had to be reconfigured and postponed after Ariane flight VA244 due to its unavailability.[2]

It is ISRO's 21st spacecraft orbited by Arianespace, and the latter's 591st.[1]

GEO-KOMPSAT-2A was in the lower position, inside the SYLDA adapter. The civilian Earth observation satellite had a liftoff mass of 3507,2 kg and was developed by KARI at its facility in Daejeon. It will be performing meteorological and space weather monitoring covering the Asia-Pacific region from the 128.2° East orbital position for a 10-year nominal lifetime.[1]

It was the 592nd, KARI's 2nd and South-Korea's 7th spacecraft orbited by Arianespace.[1]

The launch took place on 4 December 2018 at the very beginning of its 20:37 – 21:53 (UTC) window (05:37 – 06:53 local time) from the Ariane Launch Complex No. 3 (ELA-3) in Kourou, French Guiana.[1]

Liftoff took place about 7.3 seconds after reference time T-0 (the latter occurred at 20:37:00 UTC exactly), and GSAT-11 and GEO-KOMPSAT-2A were separated respectively 29 minutes and 7 seconds and 33 minutes and 38 seconds after T-0.[1]

The launch placed both satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit with a perigee altitude of about 250 kilometres (160 mi) and an apogee altitude of approximately 35,726 kilometres (22,199 mi) at an inclination of about 3.5 degrees.[1]

It was the 102nd launch of Ariane 5 (the 6th in 2018), and the 304th Arianespace mission (the 10th in 2018).[1]