GSLV-F10 Failure: ISRO’s EOS-03 Satellite Mission

• 13 Aug 2021

Why in News

Recently, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) suffered the loss of an important earth observation satellite (EOS-03) during launch when the GSLV rocket carrying it malfunctioned about five minutes from the lift-off.

Earth Observation Satellites

• Earth observation satellites are the satellites equipped with remote sensing technology. Earth observation is the gathering of information about Earth's physical, chemical and biological systems.
• Many earth observation satellites have been employed on sun-synchronous orbit.
• Other earth observation satellites launched by ISRO include RESOURCESAT- 2, 2A, CARTOSAT-1, 2, 2A, 2B, RISAT-1 and 2, OCEANSAT-2, Megha-Tropiques, SARAL and SCATSAT-1, INSAT-3DR, 3D, etc.

Key Points

• About the EOS-03:
  
  • It was capable of imaging the entire country four to five times every day.
  • It was riding on a GSLV rocket (GSLV-F10), which has a new payload carrier designed to significantly reduce aerodynamic drag and thus carry larger payloads.
  • The rocket was supposed to deposit the satellite in the geostationary transfer orbit, from where the satellite’s onboard propulsion system will guide it to a geostationary orbit, 36,000 km from earth’s surface.
    
    • Geostationary transfer orbit is a circular orbit positioned approximately 35,900 km above Earth's equator and having a period of the same duration and direction as the rotation of the Earth.
    • An object in this orbit will appear stationary relative to the rotating Earth.
• Significance:
  
  • EOS-03, part of the new generation of earth-observation satellites, was meant to provide almost real-time images of large parts of the country.
    
    • The images could be used for monitoring natural disasters like floods and cyclones, water bodies, crops, vegetation and forest cover.
  • EOS-03 was being sent ahead of EOS-02 which has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
    
    • EOS-02 was supposed to be launched around March-April this year, but now has been rescheduled for September-October.
    • EOS-02 was supposed to ride on ISRO’s new SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket.
    • SSLVs will broaden ISRO’s current rocket range that comprises PSLVs and GSLVs, and cater to the increasing demand for launching of small commercial satellites.
• EOS-01:
  
  • In November 2020, ISRO had launched EOS-01, the first in the series of new earth observation satellites that bear a new generic naming system.
    
    • It was launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the third generation launch vehicle of India.
  • It is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)

• GSLV is a space launch vehicle designed, developed, and operated by the ISRO to launch satellites and other space objects into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits.
  
  • Geosynchronous satellites are launched into orbit in the same direction the Earth is spinning and can have any inclination.
• GSLV has the capability to put a heavier payload in orbit than the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
• It is a three-stage launcher with strap-on motors.

Failure of the GSLV-F10

• Reasons:
  
  • Liquid fuel strap-on boosters start the launch of the satellite by providing the extra thrust needed to lift the rocket off the ground.
  • Then, follows a solid fuel first stage with another liquid fuel stage coming next. These two stages operated as expected.
  • It was the rocket’s crucial third stage, which uses an indigenously-made Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) which then failed to ignite.
    
    • The cryogenic stage is “technically a very complex system compared to solid or earth-storable liquid propellant stages due to its use of propellants at extremely low temperatures and the associated thermal and structural problems".
• Impacts on the Future Missions:
  
  • This was the second launch ISRO had lined up for 2021, which had suffered multiple delays after being originally scheduled for March 2020.
    
    • Its successful mission was in February, which was Brazil's earth observation satellite Amazonia-1 and 18 co-passenger satellites.
  • The failure breaks a series of 16 consecutive successful launches by ISRO since 2017.
  • Satellites had been planned for 2020-21, including OCEANSAT-3, GISAT-2, RISAT-2A, etc. with these missions set to cost an estimated Rs 701.5 crore.
  • Missions like Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan-3 will be launched on GSLV Mk-III, a more advanced version of the GSLV rocket that is designed to carry much heavier payloads into space.
  • It is a big cause of worry for the NISAR mission, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between NASA and ISRO for a joint earth-observation satellite.
    
    • NISAR, which will use two synthetic aperture radars (SAR) to monitor the entire Earth in a 12-day cycle, is the most important mission as yet involving the GSLV Mk-II rocket.

Source: IE