GSLV fails to launch satellite
NEW DELHI/SRIHARIKOTA: The launch of earth observation satellite EOS-03, aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation ’s (Isro) heavy launch vehicle GSLV was unsuccessful on Thursday morning, when the third stage of the engine did not ignite, in a setback for the country’s space programme.
However, the first and second stages of the rocket had performed normally, the Bengaluru-headquartered Isro said
The satellite, which was the Indian space agency’s first launch in four months, was lost, officials aware of the matter said.
“GSLV-F10 launch took place today at 0543 Hrs IST as scheduled. Performance of first and second stages was normal. However, Cryogenic Upper Stage ignition did not happen due to a technical anomaly. The mission couldn’t be accomplished as intended,” a statement from Isro said.
People aware of the development said that silence fell in the mission control room just before the seventh minute of the flight of the launch vehicle. “The outcome of the mission will be announced by Isro soon. Right now in the mission control, senior scientists are in discussion regarding the performance of the flight,” said an announcement a couple of
minutes later.
The space agency finally said that the mission couldn’t be accomplished “fully.”
“Performance anomaly observed in the cryogenic stage. The mission could not be accomplished fully,” it said.
Isro chairman K Sivan said, “(The mission) could not be fully accomplished mainly because there is a technical anomaly observed in the cryogenic stage. This I wanted to tell all my friends.”
The failure also puts into the spotlight the space agency’s Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV), which hasn’t been as successful as its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Three of 14 missions involving GSLV have failed to reach orbit.
In comparison, only two of the 53 flights of PSLV were unsuccessful – the first in 1993, when the rocket was in its development stage, and the second in 2017 when the heat shield protecting the PSLV C-39 satellite did not open.
The GSLV vehicle uses liquid fuel strap-on motors, solid fuel first stage, a liquid fuel second stage, and a cryogenic (liquefied gasses stored at extremely low temperatures) third stage. This was the eighth time Isro was flying the indigenous cryogenic third stage in the vehicle.
As the 26-hour countdown concluded on Thursday, the 51.70 metre tall rocket with four stages lifted off majestically at 05.43hrs, leaving behind a trail of thick orange coloured fumes.
The four-stage rocket was the first to carry a four-metre dia ‘Ogive Payload Fairing’ at the top of the vehicle to accommodate larger payloads.
The objective of Thursday’s mission was to provide near real-time imaging of large area regions at frequent intervals, for quick monitoring of natural disasters, episodic events and obtain spectral signatures for agriculture, forestry, water bodies as well as for disaster warning, cyclone monitoring, cloud burst and thunderstorm monitoring.
The rocket was supposed to place the EOS “an agile state-ofthe-art satellite into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, 19 minutes after lift-off.
This was the second mission for Isro in 2020, with the previous PSLV undertaking a commercial mission to launch Brazil’s earth observation satellite Amazonia-1 as the primary payload in February.
All missions were halted after that due to the second wave of the pandemic.
Isro has planned three more launches this year, including the maiden flight of its new vehicle small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV).