GSAT-5P, carrying 24 C-band and 12 extended C-band transponders, was to be a big leap for communication services.
In a setback to India’s ambitious space programme, the launch of the latest communication satellite, GSAT-5P, powered by a Russian cryogenic engine, failed on Saturday. The rocket developed a technical snag within minutes after the lift-off from the spaceport at Sriharikota.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), which had termed it ‘a crucial mission’, was expecting to boost India’s transponder capacity through this launch. This is the second failure among the three launches Isro has undertaken this year. On April 15 this year, the previous geostationary satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) mission, with the country’s maiden cryogenic engine, hit a snag and the rocket plunged into the Bay of Bengal.
| CHRONOLOGY OF ISRO’S FAILED MISSIONS |
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The destruct command was issued when the control and command signal failed to reach the activation system at the first stage itself, Isro Chief K Radhakrishnan told a press conference shortly after the aborted launch. “I am extremely sorry to say the GSLV F06 mission has failed,” he said. Taking the failure in his stride, the Isro chief said space agencies everywhere went through such failures. “We learn from failures and such failures lead to success,” he added.
Reconstructing the events, Radhakrishnan said when the destruct signal was given, the vehicle was at an altitude of eight kms and 2.5 kms from Sriharikota. The debris have fallen in the sea.
“At T-63 seconds, when we saw the visuals of it breaking up, and it also became clear in the radar, the destruct command was issued,” he said.
Radhakrishnan said the cause of disruption would be studied in detail and experts and a review committee would sit on Saturday and tomorrow to find out the exact cause. “We hope to get an assessment of what exactly triggered the problem and will go back to it,” he said.
Radhakrishnan said the vehicle developed a large altitude error, leading to higher angle of attack, followed by higher structural load and breaking up.
GSAT-5P, carrying 24 C-band and 12 extended C-band transponders, was meant for augmenting communication services currently provided by the Indian National Satellite System. It was built at a cost of Rs 125 crore and was seen as a replacement to the INSAT-2E, which was sent up more than a decade ago.
According to sources in Isro, the rocket blasted off around 4pm from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at the end of the 29-hour countdown. “The incident occurred in the first stage itself,” sources said, without divulging any other detail.
Earlier, the space organisation had postponed the December 20 launch of the Geo-Stationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F06) after a minor snag was noticed in the Russian cryogenic engine during pre-countdown checks.
The last GSLV mission (GSLV-D3) failed after malfunctioning of the indigenous cryogenic stage, dampening India’s hopes of joining the elite club of five nations with such capability. Saturday’s failure would raise doubts about India’s upcoming moon-mission project, sources said.
Pall of gloom descends at GSLV mission control
Gloom descended at the mission control centre of Isro’s spaceport here on Saturday. Minutes after the lift-off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, GSLV-F06 was seen exploding, leaving in its trail red and orange colour flames. A melancholic silence enveloped the mission control tower where the country’s top-most scientists, including Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Radhakrishnan, were glued to the monitors. As the scientists saw the rocket go up in flames, silence gave way to murmurs of disappointment.
