ISRO’s NVS-02 satellite faces technical glitch
Bengaluru: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has reported a technical glitch in its NVS-02 navigation satellite that was launched on board the GSLV-F15 on January 29, its 100th successful launch. In a statement, the ISRO said the satellite’s technical glitch had caused the stalling of the orbit raising maneuvers. “Subsequent to the launch, the solar panels on board the satellite were successfully deployed and power generation is nominal.
Communication with the ground station has been established. But the orbit raising operations towards positioning the satellite to the designated orbital slot could not be carried out as the valves for admitting the oxidizer to fire the thrusters for orbit raising did not open,” ISRO said.
Sources in ISRO said the satellite had “failed to fire” after it was placed in orbit. “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.
An ISRO official connected to the satellite programme said the “Master Control Facility will take care” of the situation with the satellite. Another official said, “We are going ahead with the intended activities of the satellite.”
The data from the open source space app, which is “developing and operating systems for space situational awareness”, suggested the NVS-02 remains in approximately the same position it was placed on January 29 whereas ISRO was expected to use the onboard engines to carry out a series of orbit maneuvers to place the satellite in the intended geostationary position of 111.75 degree east over India.
The NVS-02 satellite is part of ISRO’s effort to create an independent regional navigation satellite system for India called ‘Navigation with Indian Constellation’ (NavIC) “to provide accurate Position, Velocity and Timing (PVT) service to users in India as well as to region extending about 1500 km beyond Indian land mass”.