Satellite launched on ISRO’s 100th mission develops glitch

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s 100th mission has run into trouble after its navigation satellite, launched on Wednesday, suffered a technical glitch.

In an update on the mission on its website, ISRO said the “orbit raising operations towards positioning the satellite to the designated orbital slot could not be carried out as the valves for admitting the oxidiser to fire the thrusters for orbit raising did not open”.

The satellite, NVS-02, developed by the U R Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, is the second in the NVS series and is part of India’s Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) programme. “The satellite systems are healthy and the satellite is currently in elliptical orbit. Alternate mission strategies for utilising the satellite for navigation in an elliptical orbit is being worked out,” ISRO said.

The satellite was launched at 6:23 am on Wednesday aboard the GSLV-F15 rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, marking ISRO's landmark 100th mission.