The Indian Space Research Organisation expects to resume launch of satellites in a couple of months once its failure analysis committee releases its report. The committee is conducting tests on why the PSLV-C39 mission of August 31 failed to release a back-up navigation satellite into space.
ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar on Friday said the committee would release its report "very soon". The launches would be resumed in November or December after necessary steps are taken. He was speaking on the sidelines of an event to mark 25 years of the formation of Antrix Corporation, which markets ISRO’s products and services.
On the loss of IRNSS-1H in the launch, Mr. Kiran Kumar said the existing fleet of six spacecraft met all required specifications and there was no urgency for a replacement. “The overall performance of the [navigation] system is not affected,” he said.
Addressing a large gathering of ISRO officials and industry associates, Mr. Kiran Kumar said Antrix Corporation had made the PSLV rocket a globally famous and reliable space launch vehicle; it had lifted more than 200 small foreign satellites over years. It could now help Indian industry gain credibility in the $339 billion world space market. The market had evolved fast to challenge established government-run agencies.
Rakesh Sasibhushan, CMD of Antrix, said the company had grown from a turnover of ₹52 lakh in its first year to nearly ₹2,000 crore in 2016-17. It had launch orders worth ₹800 crore from various satellite operations for the next three to five years.
Early associates and former members of the Antrix board — Jamshyd Godrej, MD of Godrej & Boyce; N. Rangachary, former Additional Secretary in the Department of Space, and the late U.R. Rao, former ISRO Chairman, were honoured.
