ISRO's 100th Rocket Mission Faces Technical Glitch

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) encountered a setback with its 100th rocket mission. The navigation satellite launched on Wednesday faced a technical issue by Sunday. ISRO's website update revealed that the "orbit raising operations" couldn't proceed as planned. This was due to the failure of valves responsible for allowing oxidizer to fire thrusters for orbit raising.

The NVS-02 satellite, crafted by U R Rao Satellite Centre, was intended to be positioned in a geostationary circular orbit above India. However, due to suboptimal performance of the onboard liquid engine, reaching its designated orbit is uncertain. The mission might face delays or even cancellation.

Challenges with NavIC Satellites

ISRO stated that while the satellite systems remain healthy, it currently resides in an elliptical orbit. They are exploring alternative strategies to use the satellite for navigation within this orbit. Despite these challenges, ISRO successfully launched the GSLV-F15 carrying NVS-02 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 6:23 am on Wednesday.

This mission marked ISRO's 100th and was also the first under Chairman V Narayanan's leadership. It was ISRO's initial venture for the year. Experts noted that from its current highly elliptical orbit, ranging from approximately 170 kilometres to 36,577 kilometres from Earth, the satellite can't perform its intended functions.

Historical Context and Technical Issues

The 2,250 kg NVS-02 is part of NavIC, India's regional equivalent of GPS. Developed post-1999 Kargil war with Pakistan, NavIC aimed to provide India with strategic autonomy after being denied high-quality GPS data during that conflict. Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee vowed to create a regional GPS version for India.