SRIHARIKOTA: The historic step by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday, to launch its first small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) carrying two satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota, faced a fault.
While the agency initially reported “experiencing some data loss, it updated subsequently that the satellites launched were no longer usable as the SSLV-D1 was placed in an elliptical orbit instead of a circular one.
Updating later during the day the ISRO said, “SSLV-D1 placed the satellites into 356 km x 76 km elliptical orbit instead of 356 km circular orbit. Satellites are no longer usable. The issue is reasonably identified,”
Dr. S.Somannath, the chairman of the ISRO, said that the organization was still analyzing the data to determine the cause of the issue. He also said that the status of the satellites and the vehicle’s performance would be revealed soon.
The launch vehicle was carrying an earth observation satellite EOS-02 weighing 145 kg along with the educational satellite AzaadiSat, made by school girls to celebrate the 75 years of Independence.
After proving its prowess with successful launches of various satellites using its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (GSLV), ISRO was working to gain hold in the SSLV market in which the satellites are placed into 500 kms low earth orbit.
The AzaadiSat, with guidance, was built by the Girl students from rural regions across the country and its payloads were integrated by the student team of 'Space Kidz India'. Once the satellite was successfully placed the ground system to be utilised for receiving the data from this satellite was also developed by 'Space Kidz India'.
The SSLV uses three solid-fuel stage components designed to minimize the launch time required for commercial launches.
The launch of the vehicle was carried out as expected.
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