ISRO's launch with new rocket fails, objectives not met

New Delhi: In a serious development, the two satellites that were onboard the first flight of a new Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rocket got placed in an unstable orbit and are no longer usable, the space agency said. Precisely, the overall mission objectives of today’s launch were not met, according to sources.

“Issue is reasonably identified. Failure of a logic to identify a sensor failure and go for a salvage action caused the deviation. A committee would analyse and recommend. With the implementation of the recommendations, ISRO will come back soon with SSLV-D2,” the space agency tweeted

According to an NDTV report, the update on the status of the mission came hours after it experienced data loss in the final phase of the flight.

“Thousands of pages of data will be pouring in. Several specialists will have to go through these data. Apparently, everything went well up to the third stage. There is some deviation in the path in the final phase of the launch and that could be one reason or otherwise there could be some anomaly during separation,” former ISRO chief Dr Madhavan Nair reportedly told NDTV.

According to the news outlet, the SSLV was carrying Earth Observation Satellite -02 and a co-passenger satellite AzaadiSAT — developed by the student team of ‘Space Kidz India’, an aerospace organisation that aims to create government school students with basic understanding and knowledge of space.

The “AzaadiSAT” comprises 75 payloads built by 750 school students to mark the 75th Anniversary of Independence. The girl students who designed the satellite also witnessed the SSLV-D1 launch at the spaceport in Sriharikota.

“Three groups from our school have participated in this SSLV launch. I am very glad that we got this opportunity. We really worked hard on it and today we will witness the launch of the AzaadiSAT satellite,” Shreya, a student from Telangana, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

-INDIA NEWS STREAM

(With agencies inputs)