Sun Feb 02 15:52:40 UTC 2025: ## ISRO’s 100th Mission Hit by Glitch: Navigation Satellite Malfunctions

**Bengaluru, India** – India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is facing a setback in its 100th mission. The navigation satellite NVS-02, launched on Wednesday aboard the GSLV-F15 rocket, has experienced a significant technical malfunction. The satellite, intended to join the NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) system – India’s regional equivalent of GPS – is currently stuck in a highly elliptical orbit after a failure to open oxidizer valves, preventing the firing of thrusters needed to reach its designated geostationary orbit.

The 2,250kg satellite, built by the U R Rao Satellite Centre, is the second of its generation for the NavIC system. While ISRO reports that the satellite’s systems remain healthy, its inability to reach its intended orbit severely compromises its navigational capabilities. Experts say the satellite’s current orbit, ranging from 170 kilometers to 36,577 kilometers from Earth, renders it unsuitable for its primary functions.

ISRO is now exploring alternative strategies to utilize the satellite, though its full functionality is highly unlikely in its current state. This incident marks the latest in a series of challenges faced by the NavIC program, with six of the eleven satellites launched since 2013 encountering partial or complete failures. The setbacks highlight ongoing challenges in achieving complete reliability within the NavIC constellation, which was initiated after India experienced limitations in accessing GPS data during the 1999 Kargil War. The malfunction also casts a shadow on the maiden mission for ISRO’s newly appointed Chairman, V Narayanan.

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