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| India-Pakistan |
| Faulty fuel controller brought down Indian GSLV rocket |
| 2006-09-05 |
| A defective fuel-control device has been identified as the rogue component that propelled the GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle), with Insat-4C communications satellite on board, off course and into the Bay of Bengal seconds after liftoff on July 10. This has been confirmed by a team of 15 aerospace experts headed by K Narayana, former director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota Range. They have said that the flawed gadget, on board one of the four strap-on boosters of GSLV F02, let in more propellant than required into the engine, setting off a chain reaction that resulted in erratic propulsion. The thrust generated by this booster did not match that of the other three strap-ons, forcing the rocket off its trajectory. The experts analysed a heap of data passed on by the rocket before its crash and simulated the conditions on a computer, sources in ISRO told HT. But the team was unable to erecover the rogue device or other parts of the strap-on booster from the seabed or the vicinity of the launch pad. One of the three strap-ons that generated the set thrust was recovered from the Bay of Bengal. The sources said the booster was manufactured at ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Mahendragiri, but the manufacturing of most of the components had been outsourced to Indian companies. They said the malfunctioning device on board the Vikas engine (strap-on booster) caught ISRO scientists by surprise because the engine had been proven in several PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) and GSLV flights in the past. According to the sources, the experts declared the GSLV's design "robust" and felt there was no need for a complete review of the rocket. The scientists would address the defect ahead of the next GSLV flight, scheduled in 2007, the sources said. The GSLV's failure ended ISRO's run of 12 successful launches in as many years from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. |
| Posted by:john |