Two days after launch, ISRO loses contact with GSAT-6A

ISRO's GSLV-F08 carrying GSAT-6A communication satellite blasts off into orbit. Pic/PTI

Two days after India's latest communication satellite with military applications GSAT-6A was launched, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday said it had lost contact with it and was making efforts to establish the link.

The space agency lost communication with the satellite when it attempted to ignite the engine in a third and final move to its desired location after its March 29 textbook launch from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The second orbit-raising operation of GSAT-6A was successfully carried out on Saturday, but when it was on course to normal operating configuration for the third and final firing scheduled for April 1, communication with the satellite was lost, the space agency said, after maintaining unusual silence on the health of the satellite. A satellite is placed in orbit in three phases.

"Efforts are underway to establish link with the satellite," Bengaluru-headquartered ISRO said on its website. The 2,140-kg GSAT-6A rode piggyback on ISRO's powerful geosynchronous rocket (GSLV-F08) fitted with indigenous cryogenic engine at the third stage and was put into orbit successfully after the launch in what was described by a senior ISRO official as a "magnificent mission".

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