Sriharikota: (25Dec10; 4:00PM) In a huge setback for India's space ambitions, the launch of the communications satellite being carried by the GSLV failed. The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle soared in the sky along with the hopes of ISRO's brightest. But 47 seconds later hope turned into horror as the onboard computer lost control of the actuation system. Back at the base in Sriharikota, scientists had no option but to press the self-destruct button to abort the ill-fated flight.
ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said that the vehicle developed large altitude errors that led to the failure.
The satellite the rocket was carrying was to have been used for TV, weather, and telecom services, in place of the earlier INSAT 2E. Its failure however, comes as a big blow to ISRO's loftier ambitions as well.
The failure of 2 GSLV's in a span of eight months has bothered the scientists at the ISRO considering the fact that this is going to be vehicle that is going to be used for Chandrayaan 2 in 2013.
The GSLV launch abort is the second failure of the GSLV platform this year. On April 15th, the GSLV-D3 launch carrying an indigenous cryogenic engine failed. All in all, only two GSLV out of seven launches have been successful. Clearly, there is a ghost in the machine for ISRO.
YOU Tube Link to see the video clipping:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2xxkgHA9KI (A 2 Mins Clipping)
Failure
Forty five seconds after launch the four liquid fueled boosters attached to the first stage ceased responding to commands, resulting in a loss of control. Sixty three seconds into the flight, the Range Safety Officer activated a self-destruct mechanism aboard the rocket, causing it to explode.[8][9] Debris from the launch fell into the Bay of Bengal.[10] It was the second consecutive launch failure involving a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.
