PSLV's Big Comeback Hit By Stage 3 Snag Again, Just Like 2025

At 10.18 am today, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C62 rocket, carrying 16 satellites, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) watched with bated breath, hoping that everything would go as planned. But that was not to be.

READ: Back-To-Back PSLV Rocket Setbacks For ISRO, 16 Satellites Lost In Space

About 30 minutes after liftoff, ISRO posted that the mission had "encountered an anomaly" in its third stage. ISRO chief Dr V Narayanan said "detailed analysis" has been initiated. The space agency is yet to call the mission a "failure".

Critical Third Phase, Again

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is a four-stage vehicle. According to ISRO, the first and second stages of the rocket performed nominally today. It was the third stage during which issues began, and some deviation was observed. While ISRO chairman Dr Narayanan has not yet called it a failure, a problem in the third stage of a rocket launch almost always leads to failure.

This was a comeback flight for the PSLV. In 2025, it had a single launch which failed, also in the third stage. After the 2025 failure, an analysis committee was formed, but its report was never made public.

Not A Bad Track Record

This was the first launch of the PSLV this year. The hardy space vehicle has had 64 launches, and up till the last launch, four of them have failed. If today's launch is also declared a failure, it would amount to five failures in 64 flights: not a bad record. But this is a setback because a lot is riding on the success of India's rockets.

This mission was to place a surveillance satellite into orbit. The earth imaging satellite, Anvesha, was built by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. Besides Anvesha, the PSLV was carrying 15 other satellites. These were from other countries, including Brazil, Nepal, and the UK. These satellites have now been lost in space.

How Big A Setback Is It

It is definitely a setback, especially for Indian start-ups in the space ecosystem that are betting high on the PSLV to launch their satellites. For example, Hyderabad-based company Dhruva Space had placed seven satellites on this rocket.

This was a comeback mission after the 2025 failure, and its failure puts a question mark on the industry-led PSLV launch likely to happen in the first half of 2026. The industry-led PSLV is being built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Larsen and Toubro.

Rocket fairing remains a tricky business. It is risky, and a lot of effort goes into making the rockets right. ISRO will hopefully get to the bottom of this, fix whatever went wrong, and return with a bang.