Sriharikota: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) suffered a setback as PSLV-C62, its first space mission of the new year, failed to reach its intended orbit following a technical malfunction in the rocket’s third stage, officials confirmed on Thursday.
ISRO Chairman Dr V. Narayanan said a problem occurred during the third-stage ignition, leading to a deviation in the launch trajectory. Dr V. Narayanan added that engineers are analysing the data to determine the exact cause of the failure. Notably, this is the second consecutive PSLV mission to encounter a third-stage issue, the previous one having occurred in May 2025.
The mission, which began with a 22.5-hour countdown, was designed to place 16 payloads into orbit. The primary payload was India’s earth-observation satellite EOS-N1, named ‘Anvesha’, along with 15 small satellites from different parts of the world.
According to officials, the anomaly was detected after the third-stage burn, when the vehicle strayed from its planned flight path, preventing successful orbital insertion.
ISRO said a detailed investigation is underway and assured that comprehensive information will be shared soon, even as the space agency works to address the technical challenges and restore mission reliability.
