UNI

Sriharikota, Jul 10: In a major blow to India's space programme, the second operational flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV-F02 ended in a failure on Monday.

Seconds after a perfect take off, the 49 metre long launch vehicle, deviated from its trajectory and plunged into the Bay of Bengal.

The 49-metre-tall, three-stage 414-tonne launch vehicle of the ISRO, which lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Monday evening, started under-performing right from the start and veered off its path after travelling a few kilometres into the sky.

While there was no immedate reaction from Isro on the fiasco, officials described it as a big setback.

GSLV-F02 was carrying a 2,168-kg INSAT-4C, the latest satellite of the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite series, aimed at augmenting the Direct-To-Home television services, facilitate video picture transmission, digital satellite news gathering and provide VSAT connectivity to National Informatics Centre.

INSAT-4C is the second satellite in the INSAT-4 series. The lift-off took place at 1738 hrs, exactly one hour behind schedule.

The launch was originally scheduled at 1638 hrs. It was deferred till 1715 hrs, before it was fixed at 1738 hrs. It was not immediately known whether adverse weather conditions posed a threat as the sky remained overcast.

ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair was to explain the reasons for the delay at the post-launch press conference.

The much-awaited launch then came unsucessful with the GSLV, carrying the satellite, deviating a little bit from its chartered path, ISRO sources said.

After the vehicle lifted off from the launchpad at 1738 hours, there was a slight deviation from its path, following which ISRO officials put the entire system on 'emergency condition.'

ISRO immediately declared an emergency and several areas near the launch site were evacuated as a precvautionery measure.