Insat UB launch deferred till tomorrow

Bangalore, Mar 11 (UNI) The Launch Indian communication satellite INSAT 4B by Ariane Five launcher was put off by a day by Arianespace this morning following an anomaly noticed in the launchpad seven minutes before the blast off from the European Spaceport in Kourou in French Guyana.

The Ariane Five launcher was to blast off at around 0400 hrs this morning to put into geosynchronous transfer orbit INSAT 4B and British spy satellite Skynet 5A. The launch window was scheduled between 0355 and 0428 hrs IST.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in a release, today said seven minutes before the lift off an anamoly was detected in the water deluge system which is used to reduce the acoustic levels for the safety of the launchpad.

The anomaly could not be resolved within the launch window period of 33 minutes. Hence Arianespace decided to postpone the launch which is now expected to take place in the early hours of tomorrow, ISRO said.

The health of both satellite and launch vehicle is normal and they have been put in safe mode the release added.

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