Isro fails to launch pvt satellite for navigation
The highly reliable launch vehicle of Isro — the PSLV rocket — suffered a rare failure on Thursday as a navigation satellite onboard PSLV-C39 could not be injected due to the failure in the heat shield separation after liftoff.
The PSLV-C39 rocket and IRNSS-1H satellite, jointly assembled by Isro with private companies, together cost around `240 crores.
Isro chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said: “The heat shield was not separated. We will do a detailed analysis. Though the rest of the activities had gone smoothly, the mission is unsuccessful because the satellite is not in a position to go to the intended orbit.”
The IRNSS-1H was jointly assembled by the space agency and a private consortium of small companies led by Alpha Design Technologies, a Bengaluru-based firm.
“We are crestfallen” was the painful comment of a top space scientist about the snag in Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in the last leg of its flight on Thursday evening, a glitch which could result in a temporary hold on future rides of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro)’s workhorse rocket.
At Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota Range (SHAR), engineers are thoroughly scrutinising data on the fourth stage of PSLV and commands beamed for separation of the heat shield and release of IRNSS1H satellite to identify the cause of the glitch.
“We are surprised why the heat shield did not separate after so many successful flights,” remarked the scientist, adding a committee could be set up to ascertain the flaw and recommend corrective measures for future missions of PSLV.
This exercise, however, would result in a hold on flights scheduled later this year though speculation point at either a software problem or a malfunctioning hardware in the last stage of PSLV’s journey on Thursday eve ning.
The snag has come as a surprise for space experts like Prof Roddam Narasimha.
“The record of PSLV has been outstanding. It is surprising that the heat shield did not separate after so many successful flights,” he said.
Incidentally, the unsuccessful flight cast a shadow on the rocket after 39 flawless flights during which more than 250 satellites were hoisted into space.
This rocket also put India on a high pedestal with the launch of a lunar probe, Chandrayaan-I, and the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan.