ISRO navigation satellite launch fails in rare setback

Sriharikota: India’s mission to place a navigation satellite into space failed on Thursday after the spacecraft carrying it suffered a technical fault on the final leg after a perfect launch.
The setback, India’s first after 39 successful missions, was all the more significant because the private sector was involved in the assembly of the spacecraft for the first time in the country’s space programme.
Describing the failed mission as a “mishap”, ISRO Chairman Kiran Kumar said the heat shield did not separate on the final leg of the launch sequence.
As a result, the IRNSS- 1H, a backup navigation satellite, got stuck in the fourth stage of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C39).
“Today the launch mission has not succeeded. While all the systems of the launch vehicle performed extremely well, we had a mishap. Heat shield has not separated,” Kumar said.
The eighth satellite was a back-up navigation satellite for IRNSS-1A, one of the seven satellites in the constellation, as its three rubidium atomic clocks on board had stopped functioning.
Thursday’s setback is considered a rare failure in India’s space mission involving the PSLV, dubbed as Indian Space Research Organization’s workhorse which has had a time-tested record of 39 consecutive successful launches ever since its maiden flight failed 24 years ago.
On September 20, 1993, the first development flight PSLV-D1 was unsuccessful in launching the IRS-1E remote sensing satellite into orbit.
Thursday’s PSLV launch was the third this year with everything appearing normal since the lift-off at 7 pm till the rocket reached the fourth stage where it was supposed to inject the satellite into orbit.
However, the expected sequence did not happen and the mission director and other senior ISRO scientists were seen in a sombre mood, indicating all was not well.
After the mission director declared that the heat shield had not separated, Kumar officially announced that the mission was unsuccessful.
“We are looking into the details of what has happened and we will do the analysis and subsequently come back with the details,” Kumar later told reporters. (PTI)