ISRO’s SSLV-D1/EOS-02 Mission failure: What Exactly Went Wrong?

On Sunday AUGUST 07, 2022: The inaugural small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), carrying the earth observation satellite EOS-02 and a co-passenger student spacecraft AzaadiSAT, did not launch as Planned.

According to ISRO, the mission failed because the SSLV-D1 placed the satellites into a 356 km x 76 km elliptical orbit rather than a 356 km circular orbit, leaving them “unusable”. The divergence was caused by the logic’s failure to recognise a sensor failure, Satellites are no longer functional.

ISRO said, the problem has been correctly detected & we’ll come back soon with SSLV-D2.

What went wrong during the ISRO SSLV launch?

on Sunday AUGUST 07, 2022 at 9:18 a.m. ISRO’s first small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) blasted out from Sriharikota. The space agency’s purpose was to get a bigger share of the small launch vehicle industry by placing satellites into Low Earth Orbit.

the issue looked to be the SSLV’s terminal stage, known as the velocity trimming module (VTM). according to the launch profile, The VTM was meant to burn for 20 seconds at 653 seconds the following launch. However, it barely burned for 0.1 seconds, depriving the rocket of the necessary height boost.

After the VTM burn, the two satellites on board the rocket, the primary EOS-2 (an experimental optical remote sensing satellite with a high spatial resolution), and the secondary AzaadiSAT student satellite, separated from the vehicle. This implies they are also likely to have deviated from their original orbital routes and entered an elliptical orbit instead.