Isro soars again with GSLV success

CHENNAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) rose from its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) debacle last year and soared to new heights on Sunday with the successful launch of GSLV-F04. But the launch wasn’t without a few snags.

The 49-metre tall vehicle weighing 415 tonnes lifted off from the Sriharikota spaceport, 80 km north of Chennai, at 6.20 pm, almost two hours after the scheduled take-off time.

The previous GSLV launch, on July 10, 2006, was a failure and the vehicle and the satellite had to be destroyed above the Bay of Bengal a little more than a minute after take off. “We had then said that we will bounce back and prove ourselves. And we have done that.

We are once again proud to prove the capabilities of our GSLV system,” said Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair minutes after GSLV- F04 ejected the 2,130-kg INSAT- 4CR communication satellite into the orbit. The satellite carries transponders which has direct-to-home (DTH) television and other communication applications.

Earlier, the launch scheduled to take place at 4.21 pm was “stopped” three seconds before blast off due to a “technical snag,” ISRO sources said. Computers onboard the GSLV detected a technical problem. Finally, at 6.20 pm, the GSLV took to the skies with a roar almost matched by the applause in the mission control room six km away from the launch pad.

“Our GSLV and PSLV systems are robust and we are on the right path to the future,” said BN Suresh, director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, where the vehicle was put together.