By Our Special Correspondent
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said on Sunday that the satellites on board the first Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) are "no longer usable" after SSLV-D1 was placed in an elliptical orbit instead of a circular one.
The space agency said a committee will analyze Sunday's episode and make recommendations and with the implementation of those recommendations, "ISRO will soon be back with SSLV-D2". "SSLV-D1 placed the satellites in a 356 km x 76 km elliptical orbit in a 356 km circular orbit.
Satellites are no longer used. The problem is reasonably identified. "Logic failure to detect sensor failure and jump to rescue action caused the deviation," ISRO said in an update on its official Twitter handle.
A detailed statement by ISRO chairman S Somnath "will be uploaded soon", the space agency said. In its maiden SSLV mission, the launch vehicle carried the Earth observation satellite EOS-02 and co-passenger student satellites AzaadiSAT.
After SSLV performed "as expected" in all phases, it experienced 'data loss' in its terminal phase. It lifted off from the spaceport here on Sunday morning. EOS-02 and AzaadiSAT Earth observation satellite EOS-02 and co-passenger student satellites AzaadiSAT are the main payloads for the SSLV.
EOS-02 is an experimental optical remote sensing satellite with high spatial resolution. It is an experimental imaging satellite capable of carrying and flying with a short turnaround time and demonstrating launch-on-demand capability. EOS-02 belongs to the microsatellite series of spacecraft.
AzaadiSAT is an 8U cube sat weighing 8 kg. It carries 75 different payloads weighing 50 grams each. Rural girls across the country were mentored to create these payloads.
The payloads were integrated by the 'Space Kidz India' student team. ISRO said it will use a ground system developed by 'Space Kidz India' to receive data from this satellite.
This is not the first time ISRO has faced a setback in its maiden launch missions as PSLV -- touted as one of the space agency's trusted workhorses -- failed to make its maiden flight on September 20, 1993.
After the first successful launch in October 1994, PSLV has emerged as India's reliable and versatile launch vehicle with 39 consecutive successful missions till June 2017. It successfully launched Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and also successfully launched the Mars Orbiter spacecraft in 2013. For Moon and Mars respectively.
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