In yet another setback for India’s space agency on its launch missions, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday said the satellites onboard its maiden Small Satellite Launch Vehicle “are no longer usable” after the SSLV-D1 placed them in an elliptical orbit instead of a circular one.
The space agency on its official Twitter handle informed that a committee would analyse and make recommendations into today’s episode and with the implementation of those recommendations. It added that it will come back soon with SSLV-D2.
In its maiden SSLV mission, the launch vehicle carried The Earth Observation Satellite EOS-02 and the co-passenger student satellite AzaadiSAT. SSLV had suffered ‘data loss’ in its terminal stage, after performing “as expected” in all stages. It had earlier after lifted off from the spaceport in Andhra Pradresh’s Sriharikota on Sunday morning.
However, this isn’t the first time ISRO faced a setback on its launch missions. Here’s a look at some failed ISRO missions:
August 10, 1979
The first major satellite failure for the ISRO came on August 10, 1979, when the country’s first experimental flight of SLV-3 carrying Rohini Technology Payload could not place the satellite into its intended orbit, Hindustan Times reported citing Medium.com.
March 24, 1987
SROSS-1 , a 150 kg satellite carrying scientific instruments, was launched onboard the first ASLV (Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle) developmental flight on March 24, 1987. However, it failed to reach Earth’s orbit.
September 20, 1993
Dubbed as one of trusted ISRO’s workhorses, the PSLV did not get success in its first flight. However, after the successful launch next year, it emerged as a reliable and versatile launch vehicle for the space agency.
July 10, 2006
Launch vehicle GSLV-F02, which was the country’s first attempt at a heavy communication satellite, also failed.
August 31, 2017
The PSLV-C39, which was supposed to launch IRNSS-1H, failed in its 41st flight. Despite having normal lift-off, satellites were separated within the heat shield, resulting in the failure of the mission.
September 7, 2019
ISRO’s second mission to the moon Chandrayaan-2 orbiter was launched in 2019. However, this mission also failed when the lander crashed on the lunar surface instead of gently landing. Lander and rover both were destroyed.
August 12, 2021
The launch of an earth observations satellite onboard GSLV Mk 2 rocket GISAT-1 had failed barely 350 seconds after its launch from India’s spaceport. ISRO’s initial analysis identified “a technical anomaly in the cryogenic stage” as a reason behind the failure.
(With PTI inputs)
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