The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will resume its satellite launches by December this year.
The space agency had stopped launching operations after it suffered a setback in August due to the unsuccessful launch of its navigation satellite IRNSS-1H.
A fact-finding committee has been appointed to find the exact reason behind the glitch in the heat separation mechanism of PSLV C39 rocket which carried navigation satellite IRNSS-1H. ISRO will schedule its next launch once the committee submits its report.
"We will resume launches by November or December," the Times of India quoted ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar as saying.
Dr K Sivan, director of Thiruvananthapuram-based Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), told ToI: "We will launch either Cartosat-2 series remote sensing satellite or the replacement satellite IRNSS-1I by November or December. We are yet to finalise which of the two satellites will be launched first."
The committee was supposed to submit the report by September 10, he said. "But it wants some more time as it wants to review some more results (flight data) before coming to any conclusion. We are expecting the report next week," Sivan added.
According to a ToI source, the IRNSS-1H mission was not insured as it was funded by the government's money.
Isro's PSLV-C39 — launched on August 31 — could not deliver the 1.4-tonne IRNSS-1H in geosynchronous orbit as its heat shield did not get separated minutes after the rocket's lift-off from the Sriharikota launchpad.
The satellite is currently moving in outer space and is expected to enter Earth's atmosphere within two months and some parts of it are likely to fall in the Pacific Ocean.
