Date:12/07/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/07/12/stories/2006071204810900.htm

Back ISRO crash probe panel soon

Our Bureau

Bangalore , July 11

ISRO is setting up a failure analysis committee to determine why the GSLV-F02 rocket went awry and crashed on Monday.

The FAC will comprise aerospace scientists drawn from ISRO and from academic institutions, its spokesman, Mr S. Krishnamurthy said. The report could take two to three months. ISRO has initially attributed the failure to underperformance by one of the four strap-on boosters in the first stage of the launcher. The GSLV has three stages.

The spokesman said the other activities and programmes of the space organisation were continuing as usual. The ISRO Chairman, Mr G. Madhavan Nair, and his core team have been studying the launch data at Sriharikota, following the crash. Mr Nair is slated to travel to Delhi over the next couple of days. FACs were set up in the past too, following the failures of ASLV, the first PSLV and the loss of Insat 2D.