Insat-2D turned off; may have to be abandoned

The Indian satellite system suffered a major reverse on Thursday when the Insat-2D was switched off following an anomaly on board the satellite.

The anomaly in one of the "power buses" on the satellite, which distributes power to various sections of the satellite, occurred at 10 pm on Thursday, causing the master control facility of the Indian Space Research Organisation at Hassan in Karnataka to lose lost contact with the satellite. Though connection was regained on Thursday, most communication transponders were switched off, ISRO announced on Thursday night.

Worst-affected by the current crisis was the National Stock Exchange, which was shifting to Insat-2D from Insat-2A, which wobbled off course at times. The NSE had already moved half its satellite-based network when the snag occurred. The NSE will remain closed on Friday. The Unit Trust of India was affected but to a lesser degree. It had just begun its trial run of the national network last week.

ISRO's Network Operation Control Centre is working on transferring affected services to another satellite. The satellite, which was launched on June 4 this year, may even have to be abandoned.

Launched by an Ariane flight from Kourou in French Guyana on June 4, the Insat-2D is in the same orbit as the Insat 2A at 74 degrees east.

Coming in the wake of the snag that affected the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, the current problems have put the Indian satellite placement programme under a cloud. The defect -- a leak in the fourth stage of the rocket -- caused the IRS-1D satellite to be placed in a life-shortening elliptical orbit instead of the expected circular one. The scientists were still grappling with that problem when Insat-2D failed. The Insat-1C, launched on July 21, 1988, had to be abandoned in November 1989.

The problems have come up at a time when the government has decided to open up transponders to the private sector and when it was striking a deal with other countries to launch satellites for them. ISRO had already signed an agreement to lease 11 transponders to the International Telecommunication Satellite Organisation.

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