Space.com By Elizabeth Howell 4/3/2018
India lost contact with a communications satellite only days after the country launched the craft into space, according to multiple media reports and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Recovery efforts are ongoing as India faces its second possible mission failure in less than a year.
GSAT-6A initially launched as planned on a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket Thursday (March 29) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, near the Bay of Bengal on India's southeast coast. At first, the satellite behaved normally, but then ISRO lost contact with GSAT-6A at an undisclosed time on March 31 (Indian time). Communications ceased after the satellite finished the second of three planned engine-firings meant to raise its orbital altitude around Earth.
The engine at first fired as planned for 53 minutes, ISRO said on its website yesterday (April 1). But then, GSAT-6A went silent. "When the satellite was on course to normal operating configuration for the third and the final firing, scheduled for April 1, 2018, communication from the satellite was lost," ISRO officials said in a statement.
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