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India satellites working fine after date change

BANGALORE: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Saturday all its computer-based systems and equipment, including 11 satellites, were working normally after the date change to 2000.

"I have checked with all stations and everything is working fine," an ISRO spokesman told Reuters in the southern Indian city.

He said ISRO's satellites, as well as ground-control centres spread around southern India, had not reported any problems.

The spokesman said ISRO's satellites, ground-control centres and other systems were set to GMT and as a result the date changeover occurred at 5.30 a.m. local (0000 GMT).

He said a team of ISRO scientists monitored the satellites and other systems through the changeover, although they were tested earlier in simulated conditions and found to be Y2K compliant.

ISRO's 11 satellites include six multipurpose satellites that run India's telecommunications, broadcasting and weather monitoring functions. The remaining five satellites are low-orbit earth-monitoring systems which are used to gather data.-Reuters