INSAT-4C launch fails

In a setback to the country's space programme, the Indian Space Research Organisation's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle failed immediately after lift-off from here (about 100 km north of Chennai), and fell into the sea with the 2,168-kg INSAT-4C, which was designed to provide direct-to-home (DTH) television services.

Though the GSLV-F02 had a normal lift-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here at 5.38 pm, it was found that the vehicle was not following the right orbit, and in about 60 seconds some parts of the vehicle broke up and ISRO issued a ''destruct'' command.

Later, addressing a press conference, G Madhavan Nair, chairman, ISRO, said preliminary findings suggested that one of the four strap-on motors had failed to provide the required thrust during the first stage.

The 49-m tall, 414-tonne GSLV is a three stage vehicle. The first stage comprises a core motor, each with 138 tonne of solid propellant and four strap-on motors, each with 42 tonne of hypergolic liquid propellants. The other two are liquid and cryogenic stages.

It was a setback to the space programme, Nair said, adding that ISRO had initiated a process to find out exactly what went wrong. ISRO had had 11 successful missions in the past. Stating that it was one of the rarest phenomena, he said ISRO would address the issue, solve the problem, and have a successful launch within a year.

In the total expenditure of Rs 256 crore incurred on this project, Rs 160 crore was spent on the launch vehicle and Rs 96 crore on the satellite.

Replying to a question, he said there was no design flaw in the launch vehicle as it had done successful launches in the past.

Earlier, the launch was postponed by about 45 minutes due to some leakages in the cryogenic system. However, corrective action was before the lift-off, according to Nair.