Thai Earth observation satellite affected by ISRO rocket failure

Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) is coordinating with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on next steps after the launch of the Thai high-resolution Earth observation satellite, THEOS-2A, encountered problems.

The issue occurred when the PSLV-C62 EOS-N1 launch vehicle’s third stage malfunctioned shortly after liftoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India.

Dr V. Narayanan, chairman of ISRO, said today that the rocket was designed with four stages, consisting of two solid-fuel stages and two liquid-fuel stages.

The launch proceeded smoothly until a malfunction in the third stage caused a deviation in the rocket’s flight path, affecting all payloads, including the THEOS-2A satellite.

There is now a high risk that the payloads may fall back into the Earth’s atmosphere, he added.

GISTDA said the incident was beyond control and can occur during space missions.

The THEOS-2A satellite was jointly developed by GISTDA and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation. It was intended to provide high-resolution imagery to support disaster management and environmental monitoring, as well as agricultural and urban planning.