PTI
 
Hassan / Bangalore, Mar 17: India's latest communication satellite INSAT-4B was on Friday successfully placed in near- geosynchronous orbit following the third and final orbit- raising operation conducted from a facility in Karnataka.

In Friday's manoeuvre controlled from the Master Control Facility in Hassan, the liquid apogee motor on the satellite was fired for three minutes and 50 seconds to help the spacecraft achieve an orbital period of 23 hours and 52 seconds, the Indian Space Research Organization said in a statement.

After placing INSAT-4B in near-geosynchronous orbit, the deployment of its two solar panels and two antennas was successfully completed, the Bangalore-based space agency said.

The two solar arrays generate 5,860 kW of power. The antennas are used for various transmit and receive functions. The satellite will be put into its "three-axis stabilized mode" on Saturday, ISRO said.

INSAT-4B is located at 74.88 deg E longitude and drifting towards its final orbital position of 93.5 deg E. The satellite's drift will be arrested at 80.5 deg E longitude to carry out in-orbit testing of payloads after which it will be moved to 93.5 deg E longitude where it will be co-located with INSAT-3A.