Glitch puts off Indian navigation satellite launch

Bangalore, June 1 (IANS) An electrical glitch in the rocket Saturday forced the Indian space agency to put off its first regional navigation satellite (IRNSS-1A) launch June 12 by two weeks.

“During the checks of the polar launch satellite vehicle (PSLV-C22), an anomaly was noticed in one of the electro-hydraulic control actuators in the second stage,” the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement here.

As the replacement of the actuator will need two weeks of activity at ISRO’s spaceport at Sriharikota off the Bay of Bengal, about 90 km from Chennai, the launch of the satellite has been delayed by a fortnight to June 26.

“Though the satellite has gone through all electrical checks after it was fully integrated with the rocket and ready for propellant filling, the timely detection of the glitch has made us revisit the critical component,” the statement added.

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