New Delhi: ISRO has formed a National Failure Analysis Committee to probe the cause behind the unsuccessful launch of a key Earth observation satellite on Sunday. The mission faced disruption less than seven minutes after liftoff when the rocket carrying it, the workhorse PSLV-C61, failed mid-air. A detailed audit of the rocket is currently in progress, with every system undergoing thorough review and evaluation, NDTV reported.
The panel probing the failure has over half of its members from prestigious institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The committee will submit its report around mid-June. A large volume of data has already been shared with the panel.
ISRO has also established a number of internal committees to examine every aspect of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), a highly reliable rocket with an impressive success rate of over 94%, having recorded only four failures in 63 launches, the report added.
The report quoted sources in the space agency as saying that only the PSLV has been put on hold, as it uniquely uses a solid fuel motor in its third stage. Sources suggested that a final decision on future launches will be made only after the National Failure Analysis Committee submits its report and ISRO resolves the problem.
Meanwhile, a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) has already been issued for the launch of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-2 (GSLV F-16), set to fly between June 18 and July 17. Previously described as ISRO’s “naughty boy” but now successfully tamed, the rocket is poised to launch the world’s most expensive civilian Earth imaging satellite — the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite. NISAR is jointly developed by India and the United States, and costs $1.5 billion.
