Kumar Bahukhandi
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh ) : ISRO’s PSLV-C62 rocket carrying 16 satellites, including a foreign Earth Observation satellite, “encountered an anomaly”, the space agency said on Monday January 12, 2026 , signalling the failure of the mission.
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, space agency chairman V 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 in space, ISRO sources told PTI adding this was the second consecutive PSLV mission failure during the third stage.
A similar, previous attempt in May 2025 (PSLV-C61-EOS-09) also did not succeed due to “motor pressure issue,” and there was a fall in the chamber pressure of the motor case.
A former top ISRO scientist said it would take some time for the space agency to collect data, analyse; understand what happened and make necessary corrections. It is expected that ISRO would officially release the findings in the days to come, he told PTI requesting anonymity. To a query, he said, “it is a setback as the satellites did not reach the intended orbit and all satellites lost in space may be drifting as space debris.”
As the 22.5-hour countdown concluded on Monday morning, 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.
Later, in a brief press conference, Narayanan, who is also the Secretary of 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 right now available.”
Further, he said: “We are going through the data and with the data collected from all the ground stations and once the data analysis is completed, we shall come back to you.”
When the earlier PSLV-C61 mission failed last year, former ISRO Chairman S Somanath had said he was aware of the formidable challenges faced during the development of the third-stage solid motor, an endeavour marked by multiple failures.
“Failure is never defeat, but rather a formidable tutor,” he had said.
(Source-PTI)
