Indian Space Program: News & Discussion

[Dilbu]

Up to third stage was normal. No news so far about fourth stage ignition. Hopefully it is only a delay of some sort.

[SSridhar]

Now, launch streaming is stopped.
From the graphics, it appeared that when the 3rd stage ended and the coast phase began, the rocket lost its attitude.
Briefly later, the info display showed that PS4 had ignited.

[uddu]

Seems it was a failure. Some spinning of the satellite observed.

[drnayar]

Probably DRDO needs to launch it's own satellites .. under secrecy.. or use only whetted people for the high profile ones

[SSridhar]

‘Deviation seen in third-stage': Isro’s PSLV-C62 mission fails

A workhorse PSLV suffering two successive 3rd stage failures is unbelievable. The C-61 FAC has not determined the exact cause of that failure yet.

SRIHARIKOTA: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Monday said that the PSLV-C62 mission encountered an anomaly during end of the PS3 stage and a detailed analysis has been initiated.

"Today we have attempted the PSLV C62 / EOS - N1 Mission. The PSLV vehicle is a four stage vehicle with two solid stages and two liquid stages," Isro chief V. Narayanan said.

"The performance of the vehicle close to the end of third stage was as expected. Close to the end of third stage we are seeing more disturbance in the vehicle. Subsequently, there is a deviation in the vehicle observed in the flight path. We are analysing the data and will come shall come back at the earliest," he added.

Isro launched EOS-N1, along with 14 co-passenger satellites and a capsule into a re-entry trajectory in a marathon mission, marking the space agency’s first mission of 2026.

The flight comes months after a rare setback, when PSLV-C61, launched on May 18, 2025, failed to place the EOS-09 earth observation satellite into orbit due to a third-stage anomaly.

[Prem Kumar]

This is bad. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy-action

PSLV was carrying a hyperspectral satellite - a strategic payload

Our IRNSS network is hanging by a thread. PSLV two consecutive failures. Our launch rates have plummeted while other countries and even private companies are surging ahead

Its either sabotage or a serious drop in in morale/discipline at ISRO (or) both

If we recall the Stuxnet worm, it was so sophisticated that all the accidents looked random. Its entirely possible that some deep-state actors are at play. Even if failures have different root-causes, it does not rule out sabotage. It could probably be an advanced form of sabotage

Plus, ISRO needs a kick up its rear too. Focusing too much on vanity projects like Gaganyaan when strategic projects are dying on the vine. For comparison, China has 100s of milsats in orbit

[S_Madhukar]

Why can't they just launch instead of such fanfare, I think sabotage is happening at private company factory itself masking component failure.
Hope in future they do this quietly like boomers or at least don't mix civilian and strategic payloads

[drnayar]

Why can't they just launch instead of such fanfare, I think sabotage is happening at private company factory itself masking component failure.
Hope in future they do this quietly like boomers or at least don't mix civilian and strategic payloads

Time India separates civilian from strategic rocket launches.. just too many variables to ensure a smooth launch

[drnayar]

This is bad. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy-action

PSLV was carrying a hyperspectral satellite - a strategic payload

Our IRNSS network is hanging by a thread. PSLV two consecutive failures. Our launch rates have plummeted while other countries and even private companies are surging ahead

Its either sabotage or a serious drop in in morale/discipline at ISRO (or) both

If we recall the Stuxnet worm, it was so sophisticated that all the accidents looked random. Its entirely possible that some deep-state actors are at play. Even if failures have different root-causes, it does not rule out sabotage. It could probably be an advanced form of sabotage

Plus, ISRO needs a kick up its rear too. Focusing too much on vanity projects like Gaganyaan when strategic projects are dying on the vine. For comparison, China has 100s of milsats in orbit

Agree. It increasingly looks like other factors in play. Sophisticated sabotage.

[gakakkad]

I don't think anyone but massa or maybe cheen has a capability to pull this off . Or maybe there is an issue with third stage at the configuration needed for eos.

[A_Gupta]

Looks like VSSC has lost sight of its core mission.

Added: also, without the C61 failure report, the C62 mission should have been postponed.

[drnayar]

I don't think anyone but massa or maybe cheen has a capability to pull this off . Or maybe there is an issue with third stage at the configuration needed for eos.

All the failed missions were of strategic importance. When something looks like sabotage repeatedly it is likely one.

The EOS Satellites are multi spectral satellites to monitor the border and has early warning capabilities

Post sindhoor ops, this was high lighted as a capability gap.

Pakistani ISI and Chinese but more importantly American interference are likely. A small error can be induced into positioning systems with none wiser., can be third party private players.

ISRO needs to hive off it's strategic programs and let only whetted people work in those. This is no longer a civilian issue., but of critical national security.

The Indian GPS constellation is nowhere near completion.

I would rather postpone the space station and build up the GPS and early warning network satellites.

[bala]

Clearly sabotage is at play. ISRO and GOI need to get to the root of this nonsense and clean up the system quickly. Such strategic assets cannot be trusted to anyone and private players are fraught with infiltration issues. Way back remember the Nambi Narayanan episode with Kerala state police for liquid propulsion systems and Russia. Princeling and SoreAss factions are alive in India.

[drnayar]

Clearly sabotage is at play. ISRO and GOI need to get to the root of this nonsense and clean up the system quickly. Such strategic assets cannot be trusted to anyone and private players are fraught with infiltration issues. Way back remember the Nambi Narayanan episode with Kerala state police for liquid propulsion systems and Russia. Princeling and SoreAss factions are alive in India.

More so in the southern states !

[akashganga]

I hope this PSLV failure does not lead to year long delay of next PSLV launch. I have watched several spaceX launch failures and within few days of failure spacex will conduct another launch. Sabotage is possible but the cause is more likely to be technical failure. I do not understand why funding for ISRO is so low when ISRO is strategically so important. They should double funding for ISRO. Space X and and other resuable launch providers are cheaper than even ISRO. Not sure if ISRO is even working on reusing of stages like space X. China has already started testing reusing of stages though their two attempts failed late last year. The only way to survive in the launch market is to have at least partially reusable launch vehicles and reducing costs. ISRO has not even launched semi cryo even though they have been working on this for many years. I will not blame ISRO scientists and engineers for failure. With limited budget they have done wonders.

[A_Gupta]

^^^ SpaceX business model is mass production of rocket engines will reduce the unit cost; reusability will add to cost savings; the frequent launches needed for the constellation of low earth orbit satellites for StarLink will use these rockets; StarLink is the first of several enterprises to help pay for all this. (1-2 StarLink satellites are decommissioned each day.)

Even without reusability, India (private sector maybe) has to get the economies of scale of mass production.

[Jay]

We should be able to absorb cost and still proceed with space launches and should not be beholden to cost accounting for something as strategic as space race. Unfortunately we are and this is showing in ISRO's dwindling launch capabilities. We are neglecting one strategic space after another in the name of efficiencies and in the end we will neither be efficient, nor achieve what we want. Truly moronic stuff from us.

[akashganga]

Yes ISRO's launch capabilities are dwindling. US and Chinese are way ahead. I wont be surprised if in the next few years South Korea launches more space launches than India. All new launch vehicles in the US are now at least designed to reuse first stage. Space X is nearing fully reusable ones. ISRO instead is going for russian RD 191 which is old and not reusable. PSLV is more than 30 years old and is still being used. Even private players like Agnikul, and skyroot are not talking reuse. Space is most important in the future.

[A_Gupta]

IMO, having an ultra-reliable launch vehicle makes up for extra cost. What is lost in two consecutive failures is the reputation for reliability.

For competing for commercial launches, yes, cost is important. For national security missions, as long as the launcher is affordable (as PSLV is) the reliability is way more important.

As far as I can tell, India built only one copy of EOS-N1, so its replacement will have to be built from scratch, which means months and months before a replacement satellite is ready. And then it has to be launched and put into orbit. From a military readiness perspective, IMO, this is a huge setback. How much less effective will OpSindoor 2.0 be without this hyperspectral eye in the sky?

[SSridhar]

Isro sees warning in two consecutive PSLV failures - Chethan Kumar, ToI

Any space agency will tell you that every rocket launch comes with anxious moments, no matter what the record is. Yet, India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) failing twice in consecutive attempts won't be easy for Isro to digest given its workhorse's record.

PSLV has had 64 missions, of which four, including Monday's PSLV-C62, failed to put the spacecraft in orbit, and one in 1997 placed the payload on a lower orbit than the intended one. When a launcher is seen as proven, scrutiny can soften. But back-to-back failures need to be treated as a structural warning - not bad luck - as they suggest deeper issues, whether with quality control, supply chains, testing protocols, or configuration management.

When PSLV-C61 failed last year, it brought down the rocket's success rate from 95.2% to 93.7%. Now, it has slipped further. Isro told TOI on Monday that the failures have affected the collective morale of the team. "It would have been different if any other launcher failed, but a PSLV failure worries us," said a scientist.

An analysis of setbacks shows that PSLV-C62's failure could have been caused by unresolved issues from the failed PSLV-C61 on May 18, 2025.

In both cases, PS3, or the third stage - a solid motor that provides a high-energy boost after the second stage burnout - suffered a glitch.

While Isro has not made the previous failure analysis committee (FAC) report public, TOI has learnt there was a fall in chamber pressure of the motor case. The PSLV-C62 will now be analysed by another FAC. Isro said there was disturbance in the "roll rate" during the final stages of PS3 burning on Monday, and that caused a deviation.

Failures before 2025 all point to different glitches. The first setback was on Sept 20, 1993 when PSLV-D1, the rocket's first mission, failed due to a guidance system error during the separation of PS2 (a liquid stage).

Isro launched again on Oct 15, 1994, and thereon PSLV showed no glitch until Sept 29, 1997, when PSLV-C1 mission became a "partial success". Here, the pressure regulator on PS4 (which uses twin liquid engines) failed, resulting in the satellite being placed in a lower-than-intended orbit.

The 1997 glitch has not repeated. The next failure came 20 years later, in Aug 2017, when the PSLV-C39 mission failed. In this case, the problem was with the heat shield, which has since been rectified. After the PSLV-C39 mission, the launch vehicle had 21 successful flights before the failure last year, followed by Monday's.

[sanjaykumar]

I believe it is industry practice to have a redundant satellite on hand. For such contingencies.

Why do the ‘tandora’ for hyperspectral imaging defence capabilities? And invite potential sabotage.

Or knowing how things can work it may have been a run of the mill payload. Perhaps you designed to ferret out sabotage.