Click to play videoSriharikota, Andhra Pradesh: India’s latest communication satellite Insat-4CR was launched into space at 1820 hrs IST on Sunday after two hours of delay and four reschedules.
GSLV-FO4 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle), the rocket carrying the satellite, was to be launched at 1621 hrs IST but was stopped three seconds before blast-off from because of "technical snag in parameters related to launch," said an unnamed official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
The launch was then pushed back to 1740 hrs IST and then to 1810 hrs IST, when scientists rescheduled the launch 15 seconds before blast-off at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The satellite will be used for direct-to-home television service and video picture transmission.
"The automatic launch sequence takes over 15 seconds prior to the lift-off. It was stopped when a glitch was detected at this stage. Some of the parameters pertaining to the launch vehicle were not on the expected lines," the official said.
The INSAT-4CR is similar to INSAT-4C, which was lost following the unsuccessful launch of GSLV-FO2 in July 2006.
The GSLV-FO2 failed due to a snag resulting out of sudden loss of thrust in one of the four liquid propellant strap-on motors. The vehicle veered away from its designated path and had to be destroyed 56 seconds after lift-off.
The 410-tonne rocket will deploy the satellite into the geo-synchronous transfer orbit (GTO) within minutes after lift-off. ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) will track the satellite's movement from Hassan in Karnataka and guide the spacecraft to the allotted slot in the geo-stationary orbit by firing its motors.
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