The launch of India's Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle [GSLV-D1] which was scheduled at 3.47 pm this afternoon (March 28, 2001) from SHAR Centre, Sriharikota, was aborted in the last moments due to technical reasons. The countdown for the lift-off proceeded smoothly till about 1 second before lift off. At this time, the automatic launch process system held the countdown and immediately the strap-on stages were commanded to shut down. Necessary actions were also taken to ensure safety of all the systems.

While detailed analysis will be done to detect the exact problem, the preliminary analysis indicates that one of the four liquid propellant strap-on stages had not developed the required thrust. The strap-on stages, which are ignited at 4.6 seconds before lift off, are tested for their thrust build-up to at least 90 percent and if all these do not develop the required thrust, the count down is automatically held as happened today. Accordingly, the subsequent sequence of events including the ignition of the solid propellant core motor was prevented.

Further action will follow after detailed analysis of the data.