E-Paper
EOS-09 mission: What ISRO said on the failed satellite launch
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C61 was launched at 5:59 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The Indian Space Research Organisation launched PSLV-C61 carrying the EOS-09 satellite at around 6 am on Sunday, May 18. It was ISRO's 101st launch. However, as the mission entered its third stage, it suffered a setback and could not be accomplished.
“Today 101st launch was attempted, PSLV-C61 performance was normal till 2nd stage. Due to an observation in 3rd stage, the mission could not be accomplished,” said ISRO in a post on X just half an hour after the launch.
ISRO has not yet released details about what really went wrong with the mission. Everything was fine till the second stage, however, the mission failed during the third stage, it said.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C61 was launched at 5:59 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. It was carrying an Earth observation satellite which was supposed to be put in a Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO).
What ISRO Chief said
According to ISRO's Chairman V Narayanan, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is a 4-stage rocket and the first two stages were normal.
"Today we targeted the 101st launch from Sriharikota, the PSLVC61 EOS-09 mission. The PSLV is a four-stage vehicle and up to the second stage, the performance was normal. The third stage motor started perfectly but during the functioning of the third stage we are seeing an observation and the mission could not be accomplished," he said.
"After analysis we shall come back," he added.
If the mission was successful, after the EOS-09 would have been deployed, Orbit Change Thrusters (OCT) would have been used to reduce the altitude of the PS4 stage, followed by passivation to limit its orbital life.
EOS-09 is a repeat satellite of EOS-04, designed with the mission objective to ensuring remote sensing data for the user community engaged in operational applications and to improve the frequency of observation.
