Setback for Isro as GSLV deviates from path

India’s ambition to flight-test an indigenous cryogenic engine today received a setback, with the homegrown rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3) deviating from its path within seconds of lifting off at 4:27 pm today after a 29-hour countdown. The cryogenic engine has been under development for about 16 years.

The GSLV-D3, launched from the Satish Dhawan spaceport here, veered off from its flightpath and lost contact with the mission control. “We stopped receiving data from GSLV-D3 5.5 seconds after the lift-off,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said.

Isro Chairman K Radhakrishnan told reporters at the spaceport: “The objectives of the mission are not met fully. There are indications that the cryogenic engine ignited, but the vehicle was tumbling and controllability lost.”

The 49-metre-tall three-stage GSLV blasted off at 4:27 pm. But, minutes later, Isro said it stopped receiving data. “We saw the vehicle tumbling uncontrollably and it developed deviation. Two vernier engines would not have ignited,” Radhakrishnan, for whom it was the first mission after taking over as Isro chief, told mission scientists. He said details of the flight data would be analysed to find out what went wrong.

The initial surmise was that the two engines in the cryogenic stage, called the vernier engines, might have failed to ignite and, hence, failed to give the necessary thrust.

The GSLV-D3 was to put in orbit the GSAT-4 communications satellite. The 2,220-kg GSAT-4 was an experimental advanced-technology communication satellite to carry communication and navigation payloads. A determinant Isro has already announced it would try the rocket again, within a year. The total cost of the mission is Rs 330 crore and Isro does not insure rocket launches when done from India.

With the launch of the GSAT-4, India would have joined a select band of countries that have satellites with Ka band transponders. It had carried both communication and navigation payloads.