HOUSTON \u2014 India\u2019s space agency says a valve failure prevented a navigation spacecraft launched more than a year ago from raising its orbit.<\/p>\n
In a Feb. 25 statement<\/a>, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the outcome of an investigation by an \u201cApex Committee\u201d into the January 2025 launch of the NVS-02 navigation satellite on a GSLV Mark 2 rocket.<\/p>\n The rocket successfully placed NVS-02 into a geostationary transfer orbit. However, the spacecraft was unable to fire its own engine to raise its orbit, stranding it in that transfer orbit that largely prevents the spacecraft from carrying out its mission<\/a>. The spacecraft remains in a transfer orbit ranging from 287 and 37,252 kilometers at an inclination of 20.85 degrees, according to data from the U.S. Space Force\u2019s Space-Track service.<\/p>\n In the statement, ISRO said the committee concluded that a pyrotechnic valve failed to open, preventing oxidizer from reaching the spacecraft\u2019s orbit-raising engine. The signal commanding the valve to open failed to reach it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe committee concluded that the most likely cause for the observation is the disengagement of at least one contacts (in each of the main and redundant paths) of the connector,\u201d the agency stated.<\/p>\n ISRO did not go into further details about the problem, but said it made changes \u201caimed at enhancing the redundancy and reliability of pyro system operations.\u201d Those changes were successfully tested on another satellite, CMS-03, launched in November.<\/p>\n The problem with NVS-02 was one of three failures that ISRO suffered within 12 months. In May 2025, a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carrying a radar imaging satellite failed to reach orbit<\/a> when its third stage malfunctioned. The PSLV returned to flight Jan. 11, only to suffer another failure in its third stage<\/a>, causing the loss of the EOS-N1 imaging satellite and 15 secondary payloads.<\/p>\n ISRO did not disclose the root cause of the May 2025 PSLV failure before returning to flight, and has provided few details about the investigation into the more recent PSLV failure.<\/p>\n \u201cA National level expert committee constituted is reviewing the reason for anomaly in PSLV Vehicle,\u201d ISRO said in a separate statement Feb. 25. It did not disclose any other information about the committee or investigation.<\/p>\n