APPLE satellite
Also called: Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment · Topic: Transport and Communication in India · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 7 "Transport and Communication"
Meaning
APPLE stands for Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment. It was India's first experimental communication satellite. A communication satellite takes signals from one place on Earth and sends them on to another. APPLE was launched on 19 June 1981 on a European Ariane rocket. It was used to test relaying TV and radio signals. This gave India experience for its later INSAT system.
Example
APPLE went up from Kourou in French Guiana, on the north-eastern coast of South America. Europe's Ariane rockets are launched from there.
Don't confuse with
- Aryabhata: India's first satellite of any kind, launched in 1975 on a Soviet rocket. It was not a communication satellite.
- Rohini RS-1: the first satellite launched on India's own rocket (SLV-3, 1980). APPLE used a foreign rocket.