New Delhi

Going nowhere fast: the test flight of India's GSLV rocket ended in disappointment. Credit: AP

India's space science programme suffered a severe setback last week when the country's new launch rocket failed to take off on its maiden flight. The rocket, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), cost 14 billion rupees (US$300 million) to build and took ten years to develop.

Seconds after ignition, the GSLV's computer system aborted the 28 March take-off when one of the four strap-on motors in the rocket's first stage failed to develop sufficient thrust.

The aborted launch is a blow for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which hopes that the project will end India's dependence on foreign launchers for its satellites. The ISRO also aims to gain a share of the global satellite launch business with the rocket.

These dreams are now on hold as several new systems in the GSLV, including an upper stage design imported from Russia, remain untested.

ISRO chairman Krishnaswami Kasturirangan said afterwards that failures were “normal” in the space business. He said he was happy that the safety system worked as designed and that the mission aborted before igniting the main solid booster. That would have destroyed the entire rocket and its payload, the 1,540-kilogram GSAT-1 telecommunications satellite.

One ISRO official said that the GSLV will be ready for testing again after a detailed examination of the strap-on motor. Another official said that the GSLV programme would be delayed by between six months and a year.

The failure comes at a bad time for the ISRO, which hoped that a successful GSLV launch would encourage government support for its plans for a moon mission and a satellite dedicated to astronomy.