India is all set to launch GSAT-7, the country's first satellite dedicated for maritime communications, on Friday this week.

The GSAT-7, which is 71st satellite developed by the Indian space agency ISRO since 1975, will be launched from, Arianespace, the European space consortium, from French Guiana's Kourou spaceport.

The Rs 185 crore, state-of-the-art GSAT-7 satellite will be launched into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by Ariane-5 VA 215. The 50-minute launch window is scheduled to start at 2 am on Friday. The solar arrays of the satellite, which has been adapted from India's I-2K spacecraft bus, are capable of generating 2,900W of electrical power.

The satellite, which has a lift-off mass of 2,625 kilogram, will provide India with UHF, C-band, S-band and Ku-band relay capability over the Indian land mass.

This isn't the first time that India is going to make an attempt of this magnitude. The country already has a total of 70 satellites under its belt.

The first satellite launched by India was Aryabhata, which was launched from Kapustin Yar, Russia, on 19th of April 1975. However, the very first satellite lost all signals just after orbiting the Earth for merely 96 minutes due to power failure.