ISROs PSLV-C62 rocket faces anomaly during stage 3 launch, deviates from flight path
The PSLV-DL rocket, weighing 260 tonnes, lifted off at 10:17 AM and worked normally during the first two stages. The launch looked perfect and was watched by people across the country.
PTC News Desk: India’s space programme faced a major blow when ISRO’s PSLV-C62 mission failed, and all 16 satellites on board were lost, even though the rocket took off smoothly from Sriharikota on January 12, 2026.
The PSLV-DL rocket, weighing 260 tonnes, lifted off at 10:17 AM and worked normally during the first two stages. The launch looked perfect and was watched by people across the country.
"The performance of the vehicle at the end of the third stage was nominal, and then a disturbance in roll rates and a deviation in flight path was noticed. We are analysing the data, and we will come back with more updates," Isro chief V Narayanan confirmed.
But soon after the third stage started, communication broke down. Mission control received no data, confirming that the rocket could not enter its intended orbit. This failure was similar to the PSLV-C61 failure the previous year. The mission was supposed to place DRDO’s main satellite EOS-N1 (Anvesha) — meant for monitoring the seas — along with 15 smaller satellites from Indian students, private companies, and a Spanish re-entry experiment, into a 505 km sun-synchronous orbit.
The rocket separated its boosters correctly, but something went wrong in the third stage about eight minutes after liftoff. This issue was similar to C61’s problem, where a drop in chamber pressure caused EOS-09 to be lost.
ISRO confirmed that the rocket had drifted off its planned path. A Failure Analysis Committee will now investigate what went wrong, but the cause has not yet been revealed. This is PSLV’s second failure in eight months, harming its strong success record of 94% across 63 earlier flights — the same launcher family that sent Chandrayaan-1 and Aditya-L1 into space.
Since ISRO never publicly released the full C61 failure report, questions about transparency were already being raised. The repeated third-stage issue in C62 has increased concerns about problems in the solid-fuel motor, nozzle, or casing, especially with ISRO’s packed 2026 launch schedule.
This failure may also impact NSIL’s commercial satellite launch business and reduce trust among customers, affecting the growth of India’s private space sector.
The back-to-back failures could slow down ISRO’s plans for 2026, including launching 100 satellites, expanding NavIC, and preparing for Gaganyaan, especially with competition from private space companies growing.
Although PSLV’s design allows for quick fixes, lack of transparency could invite parliamentary scrutiny, like in 2025.
ISRO chairman V. Narayanan said the team will work quickly to recover from this setback, and may rely more on LVM3, while continuing efforts to strengthen India’s self-reliant space capabilities.