Extra weight didn't doom PSLV mission, says Isro chief

The heat shield is meant to protect the satellite from the heat generated due to friction against atmosphere during takeoff.

Isro chairman AS Kiran Kumar said that the IRNSS-1H launch was a failure after a heat shield failed to separate, preventing the satellite from being deployed in space by PSLV-C39 and not due to the weight issue.

Describing the failed mission as a 'mishap', Kiran Kumar said, "the mission was unsuccessful. All stages of the mission performed well. But there was a mishap. The satellite is still inside the fourth stage. The heat shield did not separate, as a result the satellite is enclosed in the body of the fourth stage. So, the mission is unsuccessful. We have to check heat shield separation command and whatever happened subsequently and it will be analysed."

Earlier, former Isro Satellite Centre director SK Shivakumar had said: "The launch vehicle was carrying at least one tonne more than its design permitted it, as the heat shield did not separate. This affected its velocity. For example, it should have attained a velocity of 9.5km per second at the end of it but attained only 8.5km per second."

PSLV C39 blasted off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota at 7pm, a minute later than scheduled to avoid space debris.

IRNSS-1H, the eighth in the NavIC constellation, was to replace IRNSS-1A, the first satellite in the constellation. Thought the PSLV-C39 took the satellite to orbit but the heat shield tip or the rocket inside which the satellite is housed did not open. It was scheduled to open 3 minutes and 23 seconds into the flight of the rocket.

OneIndia News