India's Space Agency ISRO's Satellite Launch Fails.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) faced a setback early Sunday when its PSLV-C61 rocket failed to place the EOS-09 Earth observation satellite into its intended orbit. The launch vehicle performed nominally through the first two stages after liftoff from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 5:59 a.m. IST, but a technical anomaly during the third stage caused the mission to fail.
Indian ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan confirmed that the rocket experienced a drop in chamber pressure in the third stage, preventing the satellite from reaching its sun-synchronous orbit. Preliminary investigations suggest a suspected failure in the flex nozzle control system-a critical component responsible for steering the vehicle during the third-stage burn-may have caused thrust misalignment and trajectory deviation.
The EOS-09 satellite, weighing approximately 1,696 kg, was designed to provide all-weather surveillance using C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar, enabling high-resolution imaging even through clouds or darkness. Its successful deployment would have enhanced India’s military surveillance, earth observation capabilities, supporting resource management, disaster monitoring, and environmental studies.
This launch marked the 101st mission for ISRO and the 63rd flight of the PSLV series, which has been a reliable workhorse since the 1990s, with only two prior failures-in 1993 and 2017. ISRO has announced the formation of a Failure Analysis Committee to thoroughly investigate the anomaly and prevent recurrence in future missions.
Despite the setback, ISRO remains committed to advancing India’s space program, which has achieved significant milestones including Mars orbit insertion in 2014 and lunar exploration. The agency plans to regroup and attempt future launches to continue expanding the country’s satellite infrastructure.
ISRO’s official statement on social media read, “Today’s 101st launch was attempted, PSLV-C61 performance was normal till the second stage. Due to an observation in the third stage, the mission could not be accomplished. We are assessing the entire performance and will report back as soon as possible.”
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