India’s space agency announced on Sunday that a satellite it had successfully launched four days ago to enhance navigation and positioning services has failed to reach its designated orbit because of faulty valves onboard.
Orbit-raising operations to nudge the NVS-02 satellite into its designated orbital slot could not be carried out as the valves that admit the oxidizer to fire thrusters “did not open”, Isro said.
An Isro rocket had on Wednesday ferried the 2,250kg NVS-02 satellite into a 170km-by-36,695km elliptical orbit from where it was to be pushed into its near-circular geosynchronous orbital slot by firings of onboard thrusters. The NVS-02 is the second in a planned constellation of satellites to provide position, velocity and timing services to users across India and a region extending up to 1,500km beyond the Indian landmass.
Isro said on Sunday that the satellite’s systems “are healthy” and that the satellite is in an elliptical orbit around Earth. “Alternate mission strategies for utilising the satellite for navigation in an elliptical orbit (are) being worked out,” the agency said.
The January 29 launch of the NVS-02 was Isro’s 100th launch from its spaceport at Sriharikota.