Tim Furniss/LONDON
India launched its first fully operational satellite on an indigenous booster on 29 September, but a leak in the fourth stage of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) caused a 113kt (210km/h) velocity underperformance, which resulted in the craft being placed into the wrong orbit.
The first uprated PSLV, and the fourth to be flown, was launched from Sriharikota, 60km (37 miles) north of Madras, carrying the 1,190kg Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Indian Remote Sensing (IRS 1D) satellite, which should have been placed into an 817km-circular Sun-synchronous orbit.
The satellite ended up in a 300 x 823km elliptical orbit. This could be raised and circularised using the satellite's propulsion system, but at the cost of its operational lifetime. ISRO officials may keep the IRS in its original orbit, which will reduce its Earth coverage.
The previous IRS 1A-C spacecraft were launched aboard Russian Vostok and Molniya boosters in 1988-95. The PSLV had previously launched two IRS demonstration satellites, in 1994 and 1996. The maiden PSLV flight failed partially in 1993, also because of a fourth-stage error.
A successful IRS 1D launch, images from which are to be provided worldwide, was to have raised hopes that the PSLV could be used to allow India to compete viably in the commercial market for launches into low-Earth orbit.
Source: Flight International
