ISRO calls off GISAT-1 launch due to technical reasons

BENGALURU: India’s space agency said the launch of earth observation satellite GISAT-1 has been postponed due to technical reasons. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had planned to launch the earth observation satellite on March 05.

The ISRO said the “revised launch date will be informed in due course” without disclosing specific details on the technical reasons or glitches.

The satellite was one of the key launches planned by the country’s space agency for this year.


Weighing about 2268 kg, the satellite was to be launched from the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-F10) from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. This could have been the fourteenth flight of the GSLV.

GISAT-1, the first state-of-the-art earth observation satellite, was to be placed in the geostationary or the geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO).

Whenever launched, the satellite would facilitate near real time observation of the Indian sub-continent, under cloud free condition, at frequent intervals and could also help the armed forces in planning for operations.