India space program suffers setback as GSLV D3 launch fails

ISRO GSLV D3: India space program suffers setback as GSLV D3 launch fails. India has been trying to be independent when t came to space technology. It made a great statement less than two years ago when it sent Chandrayan, India's first moon mission.

But yesterday when India believed that it had overcome bottlenecks to be on top of the world in space technology, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) suffered a major loss when its GSLV-D3 failed to lift.

India's dream to become sixth nation to successfully deploy cryogenic technology crashed down when Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3) carrying a GSAT4 and GAGAN satellite exploded from the Satish Dhawan space center at Sriharikota on Thursday.

The GSLV-D3 was to put the satellites into orbit, but signals stopped coming from the rocket within 505 seconds of its launch. The rocket had managed to reach 60 km height above sea level before it changed its designated path and crashed into the Bay of Bengal.
Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of Indian Space Research Organization said: "We are not sure whether the main cryogenic engine did ignite. We have to confirm after analyzing the data which is expected to take two or three days." This was his maiden launch as the head of ISRO and the second GSLV launch to fail in the past six instances. Radhakrishnan said that the launch of next GSLV with Indian made cryogenic engine would take place again within a year after errors are resolved.

This was the first launch using Indian made cryogenic engine, after India failed to import the technology from Russia in 1992, as US opposed the deal.

However, if the mission had been successful then India would have joined the group of countries to deploy cryogenic technology, in addition to US, Russia, China, France and Japan.
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VK Pandey

Latest Maoist Attack in India

At least 24 troops have been killed on Monday by Maoist rebels.

It has warned that action will be taken against any officers found responsible for "lapses" leading up the attack.

West Bengal Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen said that intelligence reports suggested that Maoist rebels were in the area prior to the attack.

It was the biggest strike ever carried out by the rebels in West Bengal.

Nearly 50 Maoists on motorcycles encircled the camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (ERF) at Silda village and started firing on it.

More fighters joined the assault on foot, firing from automatic weapons.

More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels' 20-year fight for communist rule in many Indian states.

The Indian government recently began a major offensive against the rebels in several states.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India's "greatest internal security challenge".

The rebels now have a presence in 223 of India's 600-odd districts.

'Maoist mole'

Intelligence officers told BBC that two specific alerts were issued which warned of such an attack on the Silda camp.

"We issued one alert on 23 November 2009 and another one just two days before the attack - on 13 February," said a highly placed intelligence officer.

The government has launched a major offensive against the rebels

The alerts said that mobile squads of the Peoples' Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) - the armed wing of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) - may attack the camp.

"None of our alerts was taken seriously. Had officers acted upon our reports, this carnage could have been avoided and 25 lives would have been saved," the officer said.

The state police chief, along with other senior officers, visited the site of the attack on Tuesday and found what they said were "a number of lapses on the part of the security forces".

"The EFR men were not at all ready to strike back in case of an attack. Many of the men were not even carrying their arms," commented an officer.

Part of the inquiry's remit will be to assess whether any police officers "connived with" guerrillas before the attack.

Officers say that they are also investigating whether "Maoist moles" within the force are stealing ammunition from the state's armoury.

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