ISRO fails to place spy sat in orbit
PSLV-C62 rocket encounters anomaly in 3rd stage
Sriharikota: ISRO'slatest strategic space mission ended in failure on Monday, after the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C62, was unable to place a defence surveillance satellite into orbit. The mission was intended to deploy Anvesha (EOS-N1), a spy satellite developed for the Defence Research and Development Organisation, in orbit.
The rocket was also carrying 15 small satellites belonging to Indian and international customers.
ISRO Chairman Dr V Narayanan said the launch vehicle encountered a disturbance toward the end of the third stage operation, causing it to deviate from its planned flight path.
Disturbances in the rocket and later deviation from flight path was observed when strap-on motors were providing thrust during the flight's third stage to propel the vehicle to the intended altitude, Narayanan said adding a detailed analysis has been initiated to identify the cause.
The mission of placing the satellites in the intended orbit could not be achieved and all the 16 satellites were lost. This is the second consecutive mission failure for the PSLV as a similar, previous attempt in May 2025 (PSLV-C61-EOS-09) also failed.
As the 22.5-hour countdown concluded, the 44.4 metre tall four-stage rocket lifted off as scheduled at 10.18 am from the spaceport here. The mission was to deploy a primary Earth Observation satellite and multiple co-passenger satellites into a 512 km Sun-Synchronous Orbit, after a flight journey of about 17 minutes.
The automatic launch sequence commenced following approval from the mission director. ISRO scientists provided real-time updates as the vehicle ascended. The initial phases of the flight proceeded according to plan.
However, after the announcement that the "third stage ignited", an uneasy calm took over the Mission Control Centre. In his address at the centre, Narayanan said, "The PSLV is a four-stage vehicle with two solid stages and two liquid stages. The performance of the vehicle up to the end of the third stage was expected. Close to the end of the third stage we are seeing more disturbance in the vehicle and subsequently, there was a deviation observed in the flight path."
Confirming the mission's failure on its 'X' handle, ISRO said, "The PSLV-C62 mission encountered an anomaly during the end of PS3 (third stage) of the vehicle. A detailed analysis has been initiated." However, the space agency did not provide more details.
