ISRO burns US$75Million as India’s First Satellite Launch Vehicle with Indigenous Cryogenic Engine Disintegrates.

India’s effort to launch Geo Synchronous Launch Vehicle ( GSLV-D 3) with homegrown cryogenic engine, was undone by massive failure of the cryogenic engine. A successful mission would have would taken India into the elite club of space-faring nations comprising the United States, Russia, certain European countries, Japan and China who possess the cryogenic technology

The GSLV flight was to have placed the 2.2 Tonne advanced communication satellite GSAT-4, into Geo Transfer Orbit.
The 49-metre tall three-stage Geo Synchronous Launch Vehicle blasted off at 4.27pm at the end of a 29-hour countdown but minutes later, the cryogenic engine which was to fire and take control from the initial liquid propellant stage, failed to ignite, resulting in mission failure.
The space vehicle tumbled uncontrollably and disintegrated. Obviously, the mission achieved little, except to prove that ISRO has not been able to demonstrate advanced indigenous technologies though millions of dollars of tax payers money is being burned, every year, to support the hugely manned organization.
Within minutes of the historic failure and without even going into the reasons, ISRO had no qualm in claiming that it will be ready to test again within a year. ISRO had invested Rs.330 Crores (Approx US$ 75 Million) on the Project. Its not sure whether this includes the fat pay and allowances of the work force. Obviously, since the tax payers in India seldom ask questions, ISRO need not bother about fund requirement for the next adventure!
Incidentally Chandrayan1, the moon mission, had to be aborted several months in advance and it damaged the country's space exploration program.

“The 100 million U.S. dollar moon mission survived for only 315days. It was scheduled for two years. It's a great loss to India's space explorations. The abandoning of the mission has dashed the country's most ambitious effort in space explorations. It was a major boost to the country's space program, particularly with India competing with Asian nations like China and Japan in this field," said space analyst R.K. Roy.
Contrary to ISRO’s explanation that Chandrayaan's orbit around the moon had been raised from 100km to 200km in May this year for a better view of the moon's surface (sic), it was revealed later that this had to be done because of a miscalculation of the moon's temperature that had led to faulty thermal protection and eventually the satellite could not be saved, and was virtually “fried” in space.

While critics even within ISRO, confirmed that the mission was a huge failure, the then chief of ISRO, Mr Madhavan Nair said it was a great success. “We could collect a large volume of data, including more than 70,000 images of the moon. In that sense, 95 percent of the objective was completed”. No wonder critics wondering how 95% of mission objectives could be completed with mission surviving less than half its intended life!
ISRO had tried to bask in the glory of American payload (moon Impact Probe) on the mission, finding water on Moon, claiming all over the place including the national television that Chandrayan found water on Moon! That was like driver of a truck claiming Nobel Prize since his truck had carried scientific instruments which was used in research.
ISRO can not brush aside failures (example: Loss of INSAT 4C and `strap-on' fire mishap suffered by the GSLV D1), camouflaging them as mere technical hitches. The country needs valid answers for the string failures, which have burned millions of dollars. Govt. of India should not get carried away by the technical jargon mouthed by ISRO. It needs to make ISRO officers accountable for the failures.
Heads need to roll in ISRO.
Article : Citizen Complaints