ISRO plans another launch in a year's time

Undeterred by the failure of GSLV-D3 powered by India's first homegrown cryogenic engine, ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan on Thursday said the agency will take up next flight test within a year after fixing the problems.

Undeterred by the failure of GSLV-D3 powered by India's first homegrown cryogenic engine, ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan on Thursday said the agency will take up next flight test within a year after fixing the problems.

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"Sorry to inform that the flight testing of the indigenous GSLV D3 carrying GSAT-4 Mission was not successful," he told a post-launch press conference in Sriharikota.

Though Radhakrishnan initially suspected that the vernier engine could not have ignited, he later said, "We are not very sure, after looking at the flight data, whether the cryogenic main engine, did ignite."

The rocket was tumbling, lost its control, altitude and finally splashed into the sea, he said, adding that the cause of the failure would be ascertained in two-three days after reviewing the flight data.

"Our team has all the capabilities, the necessary resilience to do analysis, take corrective measures and the target is to do all the corrections within a year and have the next flight testing...This is the target," he said.