The thrusters of ISRO’s NVS-02 satellite malfunctioned also preventing the satellite from entering the intended orbit. The satellite was launched on January 29. This was ISRO’s 100th launch from Shriharikota. It is also essential to India’s navigation system.
The space agency said on Sunday that the NVS-02 satellite’s thrusters had failed to engage. This also poses a challenge to ISRO’s attempts to place the satellite in its designated orbit.
India’s own space-based navigation system depends on the NVS-02 satellite. This was launched on January 29 on the GSLV-Mk 2 rocket. It also marks ISRO’s 100th launch from the Shriharikota spaceport.
The space agency said in an update to the GSLV-F15 mission on its website.
“But the orbit raising operations towards positioning the satellite to the designated orbital slot could not be carried out as the valves for admitting the oxidizer to fire the thrusters for orbit raising did not open,”
The satellite is orbiting the Earth in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) that is not suitable for the navigation system.
ISRO said
“The satellite systems are healthy and the satellite is currently in elliptical orbit. Alternate mission strategies for utilising the satellite for navigation in an elliptical orbit are being worked out,”.
The satellite’s solar panels were successfully deployed and the power generation was nominal after the GSLV rocket positioned the satellite in the GTO.
According to the space agency, communication has been established with the ground station.
Because every stage worked perfectly and the orbit was reached with extreme precision, the launch aboard the GSLV was a success.
