ISRO's Earth Observation Mission 'Unsuccessful': What Exactly Happened?

ISRO Chairman V Narayanan explained the reason behind the unsuccessful attempt. He said the performance of the PSLV, a four-stage vehicle, was normal up to the second stage.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) made a lift-off from Sriharikota at the prefixed time of 5.59 am.

Source : ISRO

ISRO faced a setback as its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C61) mission couldn't be completed on Sunday. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) made a lift-off from Sriharikota at the prefixed time of 5.59 am.

However, the mission objectives could not be achieved.

ISRO Chairman V Narayanan explained the reason behind the unsuccessful attempt. He said the performance of the PSLV, a four-stage vehicle, was normal up to the second stage.

"Today we targeted the 101st launch from Sriharikota, the PSLV-C61 EOS-09 mission. The PSLV is a four-stage vehicle and up to the second stage, the performance was normal," the chairman said.

The third stage motor started perfectly but during the functioning of the third stage, ISRO saw an observation and the mission could not be accomplished, he added. The third stage is a solid motor system.

"...and the motor pressure--there was a fall in the chamber pressure of the motor case and the mission could not be accomplished. We are studying the entire performance, we shall come back at the earliest," Narayanan added.

The mission objective was to ensure remote sensing data for the user community engaged in operational applications and to improve the frequency of observation.

Meanwhile, PK Ghosh, a Space Strategist, said it is not a "failure". "It is slightly unfortunate, but I do not like to use the term 'failure'. Every launch is a learning process. We assume that there was some problem in the third stage. This is our 101st launch; we had remarkable success...I am sure we will learn from this and go forward in our next launch," he added.

Scientists said a sufficient amount of the fuel had been reserved for de-orbiting the satellite after its effective mission life by lowering it to an orbit that ensures its decay within two years, towards ensuring a debris-free mission.