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Indian Launch Vehicle Explodes After Lift-Off

Indian communications satellite GSAT-5P was destroyed by the explosion of its launch vehicle, the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle. The GSLV malfunctioned while still in its first phase of its Christmas launch, after less than a minute of flight. YouTube has a video of the explosion, taken from TV9 Kannada.

28 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Video in English by recoiledsnake · · Score: 4, Informative

    A much better video in English here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH-0OH0MI2Y

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    1. Re:Video in English by Minwee · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wikileaks has the one where you can see aliens shoot down the rocket.

    2. Re:Video in English by Hynee · · Score: 5, Informative

      So it looks like the GSLV yawed beyond limits, upper stages (I think stage 3 plus payload) broke off (0:34 on video), then stage 1+2 kept going, initially with decreased yaw (it got knocked back on course upon stage 3 separation), but then increasing yaw until 0:45 when stage 2 broke away from stage 1 and the strap-ons broke off too.
      The orange cloud at 0:45 should be the hypergolics in the strap-on boosters, I believe that's what caused the orange cloud in the Challenger disaster.
      According to the wiki article on the GSLV's predecessor the first stage injects chemicals (aqueous strontium perchlorate solution) into the nozzle to control yaw. I wonder if this has been problematic in the past?

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    3. Re:Video in English by davester666 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, the unedited one shows the rocket continuing on into space properly. This video is just for the insurance company...

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  2. Fireworks! by nickovs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Pretty!!! That's one expensive fireworks display that they put on for Christmas!

    Seriously though, the GSLV seems to have a pretty poor success rate; this is the third of five operational launches to fail.

    --
    If intelligent life is too complex to evolve on its own, who designed God?
    1. Re:Fireworks! by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Seriously though, the GSLV seems to have a pretty poor success rate; this is the third of five operational launches to fail.

      It is their most ambitious booster to date, and AFAIK, it has more 'indigenous' technology than previous systems. If the Indians are like everybody else, they're gonna go boom for a while.

      It is Rocket Science.

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    2. Re:Fireworks! by crymeph0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      First rule of spaceflight #9: Most of your early attempts end in tears. I hope to see India's space program try, try again until they get it right, and not let the inevitable early failures dampen their spirit. With the United States government bound and determined to cede our #1 status as a spacefaring nation (unless Elon Musk already has designs for a rocket capable of taking us beyond the moon), I can only hope another democracy like India, and not a fascist regime like China, takes the lead.

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    3. Re:Fireworks! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well, there have been dozens and dozens of successful Indian launches in the past, only this particular rocket series (GSLV) has a low success rate (2/5). The SLV, PSLV, and others have been remarkably successful.

      And that aside, "learning from your mistakes" is only possible if you give them the tech and details of your launches, which is not happening at the moment.

    4. Re:Fireworks! by hcdejong · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It is Rocket Science.

      Not really. As companies like SpaceX have shown, these days it's more rocket engineering than science. The basic principles are well known, the biggest hurdle seems to be quality control on a huge number of parts.

    5. Re:Fireworks! by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You nuts? You know where private corporations would manufacture those rockets? Think for a moment before you say something like that!

      Besides, ponder for a moment what that would lead to. First, mothball every idea you had about space exploration. There is no profit in that. Second, drop any notion that information would be shared. Should they stumble upon a new propulsion system, rest assured that it will be patent-bound before the first prototype comes close to making its first cough. Third, unless it's regulated like crazy (and then rest assured it will be heavily lobbied against), pollution and space littering will skyrocket. Exhaust from rockets ain't really "green", even with NASA's efforts to make it "greener". Don't think that private enterprise would. And since it's up in the stratosphere or beyond, who cares about it? It will spread so thinly across the globe that, by the time we notice it, we can't do jack about it anymore anyway. And since there is zero profit in cleaning up the exhausted stages, they'll orbit for a while 'til they come down ... somewhere. Oh, sure, they have to be disposed orderly, but ... let's ponder for a moment... chance to hit something and kill a few people, price to pay when it hits a few people, price to pay to make it really reenter controlled ... let's see what's cheaper.

      Oh, and finally, I would not really sell an astronaut a life insurance anymore. The same applies here: What's cheaper? Ensuring the one you have stays alive or hiring and training a new one? What's the price of an astronaut, does anyone know? He better pray that this training is expensive enough that the corporation has any interest that his reentry vehicle really works. Or, in other words, I wouldn't ask for too high a salary, it might be interesting if they didn't have to pay it...

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    6. Re:Fireworks! by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Funny

      Stop that. Stop that this very second.

      I'm trying to be mildly amusing and you go and get all pedantic about it.

      On Christmas, of all days.

      I am so not inviting you to parties next year.

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      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  3. Everyone focuses on the engine.... by fotbr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And completely misses the fact that several seconds before the first stage goes up in a fireball, the top of the rocket falls off and collides with the first stage.

    Someone forgot to apply the indian version of lok-tite to some mating ring bolts. :)

    1. Re:Everyone focuses on the engine.... by Sanat · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe they did not realize the gravity of the situation.

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    2. Re:Everyone focuses on the engine.... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And completely misses the fact that several seconds before the first stage goes up in a fireball, the top of the rocket falls off and collides with the first stage.

      Someone forgot to apply the indian version of lok-tite to some mating ring bolts. :)

      More likely the explosive bolts exploded a wee bit early....

      From what I've been able to gather from the commentary and looking at the clip a bunch of times, it looks like it lost attitudinal control first, then the upper stage failed. Can't be sure exactly when the RSO blew the rocket up, but I think it occurs much later in the sequence when it's clear that the booster failed. Typically an errant booster is given a bit of time to fall apart before it's blown up as the destruct sequence is manual and one would like to get some video of what failed before everything turns into a bunch of expensive fireworks.

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      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  4. Your ignorance is astounding. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    You do realize that there's a pretty significant difference between the rockets used to put artificial satellites in orbit and the Space Shuttle, right?

    We've been putting artificial satellites into orbit for over 50 years now. While it's complex, it isn't particularly difficult to do. There's a large base of accumulated knowledge on the subject, and these days it can generally be done flawlessly by many different nations and space programs.

    The Space Shuttle, on the other hand, is so much more complex. America is the only nation that has been able to pull it off so far. Not only that, but it's not just sending some circuitry and solar panels into orbit. The Space Shuttle was dealing with real people who were to be returned safely. It's quite remarkable that in over 30 years and well over 100 launches there have only been two disasters.

    To make a programming analogy that you can understand, this is basically the equivalent of India fucking up a simple "Hello World!" app. It's a fuck up that just shouldn't happen these days.

    1. Re:Your ignorance is astounding. by edremy · · Score: 5, Informative

      The Space Shuttle, on the other hand, is so much more complex. America is the only nation that has been able to pull it off so far.

      Actually, we're one of two. The Soviet Buran did fly successfully, albeit unmanned. It probably would have worked at least as well as the shuttle -they avoided some of the mistakes on the shuttle, such as using solid rocket boosters and mounting the main engines on the shuttle itself, but the USSR ran out of cash in the late 80s.

      --
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  5. At least tech support is a local call by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just sayin'

  6. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My experience with teaching students from India is that they do great on the theory, but in the lab not watch out.

    And here we have a pompous ass who extrapolates his "teaching experience" to rocket launches. So, Mr. Pompous Ass, what about the dozens of past successful Indian launches? How does your "teaching theory" account for that, eh moron?

  7. Re:hey, don't knock it by puto · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Other than those two, and a few other mishaps, the US has been putting people in space and bringing them back safely for over 40 years.

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    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
  8. Re:hey, don't knock it by Dunbal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Other than those two, and a few other mishaps,

          So what you're saying is that if we exclude every event where things went wrong, the US has a perfect record?

          Tell me something, do you work for the Federal Reserve?

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  9. Re:No surprise.. this is india after all by BangaIorean · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Then, you'll probably explain how India managed to launch 30+ rockets successfully in the past, and launched one rocket successfully to the moon as well?

    See, this is what I detest about Americans. The sheer smugness, ignorance, arrogance and incredible lack of knowledge is mind boggling. We have all this careful "analysis" and "observation" in the parent's post, and I'll bet my ass that this chap didn't know anything about the past record of the Indian space program and simply jumped in to post an inane comment, assuming that "hey, it's Eeeendiaaa, them tech support guys, laaats of them can't speak proper English, so how can they launch rockets?" Disgusting.

  10. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    People like to sling around implications of racism, but the fact is it has everything to do with culture.

    For example, consider the difference between students raised in Asia, and students of Asian decent raised in the west. The students raised in Asia (and not necessarily Asian themselves) cheat like hell because doing well in school is *extraordinary* important in Asia. Students who were raised in the west were not raised in this extreme pressure, and are on average more honest (or at least act more ashamed of their cheating).

    This phenomenon is well documented. Posting as AC, because people will undoubtedly attempt to slander this as "racist" as well.

  11. Re:No surprise.. this is india after all by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    Calm down, he's just frustrated that we don't like Cricket.

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    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  12. Re:hey, don't knock it by osu-neko · · Score: 5, Informative

    To be fair, three out of seven GSLV launches have failed. No US space program has that failure rate, even if you don't exclude the mishaps.

    --
    "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  13. American children have a saying... by repetty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    American children have a saying...

    'When you point a finger at me, three point back at you."

    Re-read your rant and think about it.

  14. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Also posting as AC, for obvious reasons.

    Asians cheated like fucking crazy throughout grad school, and for the reasons described by parent. The thing is, in the west, there's a great deal of emphasis on honor, personal achievement, etc. In Asia, it's hugely about expectations, meeting them, and being successful.

  15. Your ignorance however is astronomical by dbIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To make a programming analogy that you can understand, this is basically the equivalent of India fucking up a simple "Hello World!" app

    I am sorry sir, but it is YOUR ignorance that is showing here. A launch vehicle capable of getting a lot of mass as far as geostationary orbit is not simple either.

  16. Reading comprehension failure - you and others by dbIII · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Either you are that stupid to not realize not all Americans are like

    Or on the other hand perhaps he is not generalising to the entire population of two continents and you have failed to comprehend what it written. I take it as generalising to the poorly educated, ignorant, jingoistic portion of the population that would write an ignorant pile of steaming manure such as the post he replied to. Instead it appears you see the word "American", ignore the context, then think it is aimed at yourself, George Washington and apple pie.
    He's not yelling at you, simply at the smug "USA is greatest and the rest are all monkeys yawl" in the post prior to it.