The Indian space agency on Sunday said it had successfully deployed the large antenna of military communication satellite GSAT-6 and also raised its orbit.

According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the S-Band Unfurlable Antenna of six metre diameter was deployed successfully.

The satellite was launched by India’s heavy rocket geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle-Mark II (GSLV) and put into geo transfer orbit (GTO) on Thursday.

One of the advanced features of GSAT-6 satellite is this antenna – the largest satellite antenna realised by ISRO and utilised for five spot beams over the Indian mainland, which exploit the frequency reuse scheme to increase frequency spectrum utilisation efficiency.

The satellite provides communication through five spot beams in S-band and a national beam in C-band for strategic users.

The satellite’s life expectancy is nine years.

The ISRO also said the third orbit raising operation of GSAT-6 was successfully completed by firing the satellite’s onboard motors for nine minutes.