In a setback for India’s space programme, the GSLV-F10 rocket failed midway in its mission to put into orbit the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-03). The 2,268 kg EOS-03 communication satellite carried by the rocket was lost.

The launch took place from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, at 0543 hr on Thursday. The performance of the first and second stages of the launch was normal. However, the cryogenic upper stage ignition failed due to a technical anomaly.

The mission could not be accomplished as intended, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a tweet.

An Ogive shaped payload fairing was flown for the first time in this GSLV flight. It was the fourteenth flight of the GSLV.

The objective of the satellite EOS-03, which was to have a mission life of 10 years, was to provide near real time imaging of a large region of interest at frequent intervals for quick monitoring of natural disasters, episodic events and any short-term events to obtain spectral signatures for agriculture, forestry, water bodies as well as for disaster warning, cyclone monitoring and cloud burst / thunderstorm monitoring.

The GSLV-F10 was a three-stage/engine rocket.

The launch was originally slated for March 5, 2020, but was postponed due to a technical glitch hours before the launch. Again planned in March this year, the launch was delayed due to problems in the satellite's battery. When the launch finally happened on Thursday, it turned out to be a failure.

For ISRO, the launch of GSLV-F10 was the second space mission in 2021 after the successful launch of the Brazilian satellite Amazonia-1 by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle early this year.

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