INSAT 4C ready for launch

[BGonaSTICK]

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has completed preparations for the launch of INSAT 4C which will be placed into orbit by Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-5 (GSLV)

The launch will take place at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota and has a provisional launch window of July 10th though July 15th.

ISRO Chairman N Madhavan Nair stated ''We have moved the vehicle to the launch pad. Except for weather conditions, we are on time for the launch on schedule''.

The launch of the satellite using the home-grown rocket will cut costs by more than 30 per cent when compared to alternate options, he said.

INSAT 4C is the second in the INSAT 4 series, and will be a big boost to the Direct-to-home operators. This will be the first time ISRO has launched such a large satellite.

INSAT 4C weighs more than two tonnes and carries 12 KU band transponders. It has a predicted operational lifetime of ten years.

Source: Deccan Herald

[BGonaSTICK]

Read more here

[Analoguesat]

Launch failed. Problem with one of the upper stages..
INSAT 4C launch unsuccessful

July 10, 2006 18:13 IST
Last Updated: July 10, 2006 18:20 IST

The much-awaited launch of INSAT 4C on Monday was unsucessful with the GSLV carrying the satellite deviating a little bit from its chartered path, Indian Space Research Organisation sources said.

After the vehicle lifted off from the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 1738 hours, there was a slight deviation from its path, following which ISRO officials put the entire system on 'emergency condition'.



Edited to remove spurious text....

[BGonaSTICK]

... and blew it out of the sky I presume?

[SAT-WORLD]

And floating in the Bay of Bengal,what's left of it
It's a good thing,i didn't email my friends in the Himalayas,telling them to expect more channels.

[Analoguesat]

Poor old 4C is a goner.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/5165470.stm

[Analoguesat]

Sriharikota, July 10
India’s space technology programme suffered a huge setback as ISRO’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-FO2) carrying the INSAT-4C communication satellite, which was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, 80 km from Chennai, today veered off the projected trajectory and came crashing down.

It was a sad day for India’s space and defence research as after the failure of Agni-III missile only yesterday, the launch of INSAT-4C today also failed.

There was initial euphoria among the scientists in the control room here as the rocket carrying INSAT-4C successfully took off at 5.38 pm, but soon there was a sense of shock and disbelief as within seven seconds it veered from its projected path and the graph on the computer in the control room showed it was going down.

ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair said, “There has been a mishap in the first stage. Things have gone wrong in the stage of separation. We have to analyze the data to find out what went wrong.”

According to a PTI report addressing a press conference an hour after the failure of the mission this evening a visibly disappointed Mr Nair attributed the failure to sudden drop in pressure to ‘‘zero’’ in one of the four strap on motors during the first stage.

Scientists here said probably the strap on booster engines meant to synchronise the thrust which are liquid propelled failed.

Mr Nair said the collapse and disintegration of the vehicle was also due to deviation in angle. The normal divergence of an angle that a vehicle could withstand was four degree, but in this case, the divergence was 10 degree.

A high-level investigation by the country’s top scientists will be undertaken to identify the cause of the failure and to ensure that the next launch of the GSLV programme is successful.

All stations at the space centre here have been put on a state of emergency while the control room keenly watched the rocket, worth crores of rupees, go down into the Bay of Bengal.

The four strap-on rocket engines were supposed to kick up the INSAT-4C 13 seconds after the blast but the snag occurred within seven seconds when the vehicle was around 70 to 100 km from the surface of earth.

After the text-book type launch the rocket had gone up to around 70 km into the atmosphere but then it spiraled off its path and came crashing back to earth.

It is certainly a catastrophic failure in India’s space programme but it is not unusual as other super powers like the USA and former Soviet Union too have experienced such failures in the past.

Out of 21 launches from India since August, 1979, including the one today, there had been only five failures. While first launch on August 10, 1979 had failed the three GSLV launches from here since April, 2001 had been successful the last being on September 20, 2004.

This was the first failure after 12 successful launches for the ISRO. This was also the first setback for ISRO Chairman Nair, who had been tasting success, ever since he assumed office in September 2003.

Had the INSAT-4C launch been successful India would have become a big player commercially in the world of communication as it could have allotted 175 transponders worldwide to private television channels, including our own Doordarshan and All India Radio and also for tele-medicine and tele-education.



Tribune India.

[Jimdefruit]

So, was it really 30% cheaper?

[BGonaSTICK]

Yes, that's a good point, but I suppose these things can't stop you trying again.

"Out of 21 launches ...there had been only five failures" doesn't sound very reassuring to me though

Not a good week to be an Indian rocket scientist. Let's hope the next launch is a success.

[Analoguesat]

According to the report on the sat-index site, neither the launcher nor ppor old Insat 4C was insured.....

It appeared from preliminary data that the pressure had dropped to zero in one of the four liquid strap-on motors, causing the rocket to veer off course owing to the resulting asymmetrical thrust. The launcher deviated about 10 degrees from its nominal trajectory, leading to mission control giving a destruct command about one minute into flight. At that point, the rocket was at an altitude of approx. 12 km. The remainders of the vehicle and its payload crashed into the Bay of Bengal.

The first stage, GS1, comprised a core motor with 138 tonne of solid propellants and four strap-on motors, each with 42 tonnes of hypergolic liquid propellant.

ISRO said will set up a high-level committee to probe the failure of the GSLV. The proposed committee would undertake a detailed analysis of telemetry data from the rocket. The organisation had insured neither INSAT-4C nor the GSLV. "We don't go for insurance for home launches," an ISRO official was quoted as saying.