No major design flaw in failed GSLV-F06: Ex-ISRO chief

There was no major design flaw in the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) — GSLV-F06 — which crashed seconds after take-off on December 25 last year, said Dr G Madhavan Nair, chairman of the fact-finding committee.

The GSLV analysis committee headed by Nair will be able to draw final conclusion within next few weeks, he told Press Trust of India.

GSLV-F06 (with GSAT-5P Satellite onboard) was normal up to 47.5 seconds from the lift-off. The events leading to the failure started at 47.8 seconds. Soon, the vehicle started developing larger errors in its orientation, leading to the crash, he said.

"We found that there is no major design flaw in GSLV-F06. However, the fact-finding on the failure is continued, and mostly within next few weeks we should be able to draw a conclusion," Nair said in Mumbai yesterday.

The committee has collected a lot of evidence from photographs and telemetry data, and the previous flight data, he said, adding, "the first level report has been submitted already where we have clearly established which type of connectors got de-mated (came apart) in the flight. Now we have to establish how they got de-mated. For that additional tests are required."

Nair also said, without elaborating, that since there was no major design flaw, the failure could be due to severe "environment" conditions.