Solar Activities Create Minor Glitch in INSAT-4A

Services from one of the INSAT satellites, INSAT-4A, were disrupted for about half an hour around 4 pm this afternoon (January 2, 2007) due to solar disturbances. INSAT-4A lost earth lock when one of the momentum wheels used for stabilizing the spacecraft got switched off. ISRO engineers at Master Control Facility, Hassan, immediately took action to recover the earth lock and orient the satellite properly within about half an hour.