BENGALURU: At a time when the country is witnessing a spurt in natural disasters, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday failed to put its state-of-the-art Earth observation satellite into orbit. The satellite was meant to give advance info on weather conditions, agriculture, forestry, natural disasters and water bodies.
The Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket took off at 5.43 am and accomplished the separation of the first two stages but the crucial cryogenic stage failed to release the satellite in its intended geosynchronous transfer orbit.
“The cryogenic upper stage ignition did not happen due to technical anomaly. The mission couldn’t be accomplished as intended,” ISRO Chairman K Sivan said. The rocket’s third stage carried a four-metre diameter Ogive payload fairing, encasing the EOS-03 satellite.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh, who held a detailed discussion with Sivan, said the mission can be rescheduled. The EOS-03 is the first state-of-the-art agile Earth observation satellite planned to be put in geostationary orbit to provide near real-time imaging of large regions of interest at frequent intervals, and was to serve in quick monitoring of natural disasters, episodic events and any short-term events. It was also equipped to obtain spectral signatures for agriculture, water bodies as well as for cloud burst/thunderstorm monitoring, etc.
Madhavan Nair shocked over cryogenic engine failure
Former IS RO chairman G Madhavan Nair, who expressed shock over the failure, said ISRO’s cryogenic engine track record was much better than Russia and the European countries which recorded a failure rate of about 20 per cent. He, however, expressed confidence that a “resilient ISRO” will bounce back. A senior ISRO scientist informed TNIE: “We have lost the mission.
However, it is not confirmed to be an ignition failure — as one cannot say ignition happened at all — it’s a little tricky. The team is yet to understand why and how it (the cryogenic stage failure) happened. However, the fact remains that the cryogenic stage did not function and that is very clear. If it had functioned as it should have, then the satellite would have been in orbit.
There must have been some problem at the ignition stage.” He said space scientists cannot speculate on the reasons for the failure of the cryogenic engine, the indigenous development and testing of which was lauded among space agencies. “The team at Sriharikota stayed up all night for the 5:43 am launch. The failure has made them very upset.
They want to have some cool-off time and start looking at data later,” the senior scientist said, requesting anonymity. “The problem obviously is not simple, but deciphering the mission failure depends on studying enormous data,” he added. The ISRO scientists now plan to analyse the videos and the telemetry and tracking data.