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MUMBAI:
India's attempt to enter the elite “space club”
has received a setback. The launch of the country's first
commercial communications satellite from home soil has ended
in failure. The GSLV-F02, carrying the state-of-the-art communication
satellite Insat-4C, crashed into the Bay of Bengal a short
while after lift-off at 5:38 pm from its launch pad at the
Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.
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To
view GSLV-F02 launch webstream, click on the image
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The
launch of the completely indigenous Insat-4C communications
satellite on the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)
was delayed twice before its final failed attempt due to unspecified
technical reasons. The launch was originally scheduled for 4:30
pm this evening.
The
three-stage 414-tonne launch vehicle of the Indian Space Research
Organisation (Isro), started under-performing right from the
start and veered off its path after travelling a few kilometers
into the sky.
Isro
chairman Madhavan Nair admitted the failure of the satellite.
"The mishap happened in the first stage of the separation.
We
have activated and analysed the data and we will get to the
bottom of it," Nair said, adding, "today's happening
is a setback, especially after we had 11 continuous successful
launches."
Insat-4C,
which cost Rs 4 billion, was the second satellite in the Insat-4
series. The first, Insat-4A, was launched in December last year,
from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana by an Ariane5
vehicle.
It
was for the first time that India's space agency was putting
into orbit a two-tonne class satellite. Equipped with 12 high-powered
Ku band transponders (like the earlier Insat-4A), the 2,180
kg spacecraft is designed for a mission life of 10 years.
Insat-4C was designed with the capability to broadcast 150
TV channels through the DTH platform.
If
succesful, this mission would have taken India to being one
of the five major satellite launch countries in the world.
With this failure, Isro’s strategy of taking satellite
contracts from other countries has also received a setback.
As
regards the Insat-4 mission, Isro will now have to look ahead
to the launch of the third satellite in the series - Insat-4B.
The GSLV's failure will in no way influence that launch however,
because Isro will be using the services of Arianespace to
launch Insat-4B from Kouru next year.
The
failure of this mission is not just about the challenge it
throws up to India's space ambitions though. Immediately hit
will also be Kalanithi Maran's Sun Group, which had booked
space on Insat 4C for its DTH venture Sun Direct.
At
present, DD Direct Plus managed by the pubcaster Prasar Bharati
and the Subhash Chandra owned Dish TV are the two operators
offering DTH services in the country.
All
the Ku-band transponders on the Insat 4A satellite, meanwhile,
have been leased to the Tata-Star consortium, which will soon
be launching the Tata Sky DTH service.
Other
than Tata Sky and Sun Direct, there is also Anil Ambani's
DTH venture Reliance Bluemagic, which will be rolling out
in due course.
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