ISRO’s 100th mission hits hurdle as NVS-02 satellite encounters glitch

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s latest and 100th rocket mission hit a hurdle on Sunday after its navigation satellite, which was launched on January 29, suffered a technical glitch, the space agency said. 

In an update NVS-02 Mission, ISRO said, “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.”

The satellite, manufactured by U R Rao Satellite Centre, was to be placed in a geostationary circular orbit at the designated spot over India. 

Due to a malfunction in its liquid engine, the satellite was not able to reach its designated orbit and the launch was delayed or might be abandoned altogether. 

"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.

GSLV-F15 carrying the NVS-02 satellite launched

ISRO successfully launched the GSLV-F15 carrying the NVS-02 satellite at 6:23 am on January 29 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. This marks ISRO's 100th mission, the first under its new Chairman, V Narayanan, and its first launch of the year.

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F15) follows the GSLV-F12 mission which successfully carried navigation satellite NVS-01, the first of the second generation satellites on May 29, 2023.

The key applications of the satellite would be terrestrial, aerial and maritime navigation, precision agriculture, fleet management, location based services in mobile devices, orbit determination for satellites, Internet-of-Things (IoT) based applications, emergency and timing services, ISRO said.