NEW DELHI, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- India's Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Monday that its navigation satellite NVS-02 encountered a technical glitch during the orbit-raising manoeuvre on Sunday.
The satellite was launched on Jan. 29 from the launch pad of Sriharikota, off the Bay of Bengal coast located in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
"After the launch, the solar panels on board the satellite were successfully deployed, and power generation is nominal. Communication with the ground station has been established. But the orbit raising operations towards positioning the satellite to the designated orbital slot could not be carried out as the valves for admitting the oxidizer to fire the thrusters for orbit raising did not open," ISRO said in its update.
However, it said the satellite systems were healthy, and the satellite was currently in elliptical orbit.
"Alternate mission strategies for utilizing the satellite for navigation in an elliptical orbit is being worked out," it added.
The lifting of NVS-02 through its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)-F15 rocket marked a remarkable milestone of the 100th successful launch for ISRO from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. ■
