Sriharikota: ISRO’s PSLV-C62 rocket carrying 16 satellites, including a foreign Earth Observation satellite, “encountered an anomaly” on Monday, resulting in the failure of the mission, the space agency said.
Disturbances in the rocket and a deviation from its flight path were observed during the third stage, while the strap-on motors were providing thrust to propel the vehicle to its intended altitude, ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan said. A detailed analysis has been initiated to determine the cause.
“The mission to place the satellites in the intended orbit could not be achieved, and all 16 satellites were lost,” he confirmed. This marks the second consecutive mission failure for the PSLV, following a similar unsuccessful attempt in May 2025 with PSLV-C61/EOS-09.
The 44.4-metre-tall, four-stage rocket lifted off as scheduled at 10:18 am from the spaceport here after a 22.5-hour countdown. The mission was intended to deploy a primary Earth Observation satellite and multiple co-passenger satellites into a 512-km Sun-Synchronous Orbit, after a flight of about 17 minutes.
The automatic launch sequence began following approval from the mission director, with ISRO scientists providing real-time updates as the vehicle ascended. The initial phases of the flight proceeded according to plan.
However, shortly after the ignition of the third stage, Mission Control Centre personnel noticed unusual disturbances. “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 observed disturbances in the vehicle, and subsequently, a deviation in the flight path occurred,” Narayanan said.
Confirming the failure on its ‘X’ handle, ISRO stated, “The PSLV-C62 mission encountered an anomaly during the end of PS3 (third stage) of the vehicle. A detailed analysis has been initiated.” The agency did not provide further technical details.
In a brief press briefing, Narayanan, who is also Secretary of the Department of Space, said, “As all of you are aware, today we attempted PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 mission… the mission could not proceed in the expected flight path. That is the information currently available. We are reviewing all data collected from ground stations, and once analysis is complete, we will update you.”
With PTI inputs