ISRO teams analysing data to pinpoint GSLV failure

Bangalore, Dec 26 (PTI) Data from the ill-fated Indian
rocket carrying a domestic communication satellite that
exploded just after launch were being analysed by ISRO to know
what caused the disaster even as a veteran space scientist
vouched for the robustness of the indigenous launch vehicle.
The Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) said an
expert committee is likely to be formed shortly to give a
report on its second space launch failure this year.
"Teams are looking at the data to find out the reason
for what happened", ISRO spokesman S Satish told PTI here.
"A Failure Analysis Committee is likely to be
constituted in the next one or two days," he said.
In a major setback, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle(GSLV-F06) which was also powered by a Russian
Cryogenic engine at the upper stage with a GSAT-5P satellite
on board failed in its mission on Saturday in the first stage
itself following a snag less than a minute after the liftoff
from the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.
U R Rao, a veteran space scientist and a former ISRO
chief, vouched for the robustness of the indigenously-built
GSLV, saying it's a well-proven space rocket, and maintained
that "quality problem" led to the failure of the multi-crore
mission.
Speaking to PTI, Rao said: "It's just a quality
problem", noting that command did not reach the actuators
leading to non-ignition resulting in thrust being
insufficient.
Rao said unlike the GSLV failure on April 15 this year
when the fault was at the cryogenic stage, this time it was at
the first stage itself. Rao said the first stage is
"well-proven" and "we must be able to get back to the rails
very quickly".
"Once in a while, these things (failures) do happen. It
has happened with Ariane (European space consortium Ariane)
and Shuttle (of NASA)", he said.
Rao does not see any impact of Saturday's GSLV failure
on India's space programme as a whole, but acknowledged that
it would take time to "sort out enormous data" to find out the
"problem" that led to the unsuccessful mission.
He also does not believe that Saturday's failure would
lead to some delay in the 2013-scheduled Chandrayaan-2
mission, saying: "This (GSLV) is a proven system".
The GSAT-5P, meant to give a boost to communication
services including TV, telephone and telemedicine, was
originally scheduled for launch on December 20 but was
postponed a day earlier after a leak was noticed in the
cryogenic stage during pre-countdown checks.
This is the second consecutive setback for India's space
programme this year after the GSLV-D3 veered off its flight
path and plunged into the Bay of Bengal along with GSAT-4 on
April 15.

After the failure, top ISRO officials said the command
to control the space rocket (GSLV-F06), carrying GSAT-5P, from
the equipment bay, the electronic brain of the launch vehicle
resident atop it, did not reach the actuators in the first
stage. They suspected that a connector chord, which takes the
signal down, had snapped.
The FAC to be formed is expected to be similar to the
committee set up after the failure of GSLV-D3, primarily for
the flight testing of indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper
Stage (CUS), on April 15 this year.
The FAC comprising multi-disciplinary experts concluded
at the time that the primary cause for the failure was the
sudden loss of thrust in one out of the four liquid propellant
strap-on stages (S4) immediately after lift-off at 0.2 sec.
With only three strap-on stages working, there was significant
reduction in the control capability.
However, the vehicle altitude could be controlled till
about 50 seconds. At the same time the vehicle reached the
transonic regime of flight and the vehicle altitude errors
built up to large values, resulting in aerodynamic loads
exceeding the design limits thus leading to break up of the
vehicle. PTI RS
RCJ