In a major setback to India’s space odyssey, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday lost contact with its military satellite GSAT 6A and was making efforts to renew links with it.
GSAT 6A was launched two days ago at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and ISRO lost contact when it attempted to ignite the engine to move the satellite to its desired location.
A textbook take-off of the second orbit raising operation was successfully carried out on Saturday. The space agency said that while the satellite was on course to normal operating configuration for the third and final firing scheduled for Sunday, communication with the satellite was lost. ISRO remained silent on the health of the satellite.
The agency received data from the satellite for about four minutes after the second orbit raising operation, after which it went blank, a source said. A source also said it could be a power failure.
The 2,140 kg GSAT-6A riding piggyback on ISRO’s powerful geosynchronous rocket (GSLV-F08) fitted with the indigenous cryogenic engine at the third stage was put into orbit successfully after the launch in what was described by a senior ISRO official as a “magnificent mission”.
The satellite has a six-metre wide antenna, the biggest used by an Isro communication satellite so far, meant for the S-band communication. This was to enable the satellite to provide mobile communication for the country through handheld ground terminals, which was not possible earlier as smaller antennas meant larger ground stations. The satellite was also to provide with communication facilities for the armed forces.
The ISRO website reported that it was “making efforts to establish link with the satellite”.
GSAT-6A was launched with the mission of helping in mobile communication from very remote locations through hand-held ground terminals and was considered a major advantage for the armed forces.
ISRO’s website which normally communicates the operations of a launched satellite on its website is unusually silent about the health of the satellite and has not released any update since March 30.
The last update was on March 30, where it said, “The first orbit raising operation of GSAT-6A Satellite has been successfully carried out by Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) Engine firing for 2188 sec from 09:22hr IST on March 30, 2018.”
“Orbit Determination results from this LAM firing are: Apogee X perigee height was changed to 36412 km X 5054 km. Inclination is 11.93 deg. Orbital period is 12hr 45min,” it had said.
Reports, however, say that the top brains of ISRO are trying to identify the problem and set it right.
The spacecraft is put into orbit in three phases. This is to hurl the satellite to its home in space.
GSAT-6A with an intended mission of 10 years is also aimed at providing a platform for developing technologies such as demonstration of 6 m S-Band Unfurlable Antenna, hand-held ground terminals and network management techniques that could be useful in satellite-based mobile communication applications.
This satellite was to complement GSAT-6 which is already in orbit and both the satellites together were expected to provide a platform to enhance technologies, according to ISRO Chairman K Sivan who had stated this post the launch.
This was the first mission for Sivan, who assumed charge of the space agency in January even though the preparation for building the satellite had begun before he took over.
India’s mission to launch its backup navigation satellite IRNSS-1H on board PSLV-C39 had ended in a failure after a technical fault on the final leg following a perfect launch in August last year.