Planned missions of the PSLV rocket and its big brother GSLV would go on as scheduled in the coming months, according to statements made by ISRO Chairman A.S.Kiran Kumar at Sriharikota after the launch and separately by VSSC Director K.Sivan.
The next PSLV mission is tentatively due in November or December to launch a Cartosat-2 series remote sensing satellite. It may also carry smaller customer satellites.
A GSLV flight may take place later this year to put military communications satellite GSAT-6A to space to support the older GSAT-6. A heavy-lift GSLV Mark III carrying a large communications satellite is also likely in February 2018.
Antrix Corporation, which has signed a series of launch contracts for the PSLV, sees its reliability and market intact as the latest problem would be overcome.
Rakesh Sasibhusan, Chairman and Managing Director of Antrix, said, “Launch mishaps or anomalies are an inevitable part of the space business. Every space agency has these moments."
Antrix currently has firm agreements for launching 16 foreign spacecraft; satellite operators are discussing over a dozen more launches with it, he told The Hindu.
Other commercial launchers (for example, Soyuz, Proton and SpaceX) may have suffered failures and continue to be in demand, he said. The PSLV, popular in the category to lift 5-kg to 800-kg spacecraft to space, remains a reliable vehicle to customers as it has delivered 39 continuous successes over 23 years.
It also operates in a global market segment where such services are not readily available to satellite operators, he said.
