ISRO’s navigation satellite launch fails after tech glitch
NEW DELHI: The launch of India’s latest navigational satellite, IRNSS-1H and its indigenous GPS system NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) failed due to a technical glitch on Thursday.
A rare setback for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mission, the satellite’s fourth stage in the launch mission did not go as planned, nearly 20 minutes after satellite had a perfect lift off from the space centre in Sriharikota.
ISRO chief AS Kiran Kumar said the mission, the eighth navigational satellite, was unsuccessful and said further analysis would be carried out.
“The C39 launch vehicle had a problem, heat shield has not separated. As a result of that the satellite is inside the heat shield and we have to go through the detailed analysis to see what has happened,” he announced at the mission control centre.
The first three stages of the satellite launch were completed as intended. However, in the fourth state, the satellite did not deploy as something went wrong with its heat shield after the command for separation was initiated.
Addressing the media after the failed launch, Kumar said it was fortunate that the PSLV-C39 had only one satellite on board.
A successful launch would have ushered a new era in the country’s history of space explo- ration as, for the first time, the private sector has been actively involved in assembling and testing of a satellite.
Earlier, the private sector’s role was limited only to supplying components.