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Scientists begin studying GSLV's failure

A day after the aborted mission of the prestigious Geo-stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle, Indian space scientists plunged into the exercise of pinpointing the defects after salvaging the programme data from the mission computers at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

Scientists, distraught but confident that their years of effort would not go waste, were salvaging the programme data followed by an on-site check of the GSLV rocket, whose mission was aborted at the last moment on Wednesday.

An Indian Space Research Organisation spokesman told the Press Trust of India that the scientists led by their chairman, Dr K Kasturirangan, had conducted only a preliminary assessment of what could have gone wrong as soon as the mission was aborted.

They would have to study an enormous amount of data before they could make their final assessment, he added.

Preliminary analysis has suggested that one of the four liquid propellant strap-on stages in the GSLV had not developed the required thrust. He said detailed analysis would be done to detect the exact problem and rectify it.

Though the first attempt at launching the GSLV was considered a failure, the fact that the rocket was safe was a good sign because it meant that preparing for a second attempt would not be too expensive, the spokesman said.

The GSLV's launch would have put India in a league of just five other nations with such a capability.

PTI

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