1st time in 8 yrs, Isro workhorse PSLV fails on 101st launch; sat lost
:
's workhorse rocket
PSLV
malfunctioned mid-flight and failed to inject a satellite into orbit after an early morning launch on Sunday. The mission, designated
PSLV-C61
, was Isro's 101st launch to place EOS-09
earth observation satellite
into a sun-synchronous polar orbit.
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The setback marks the third unsuccessful PSLV mission in 32 years, excluding a partial failure in 1997. PSLV-C61 lifted off at 5.59am from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Around six minutes into the flight, the rocket veered off its intended trajectory.
3rd-stage motor malfunctioning
Isro chairman V Narayanan later said the rocket's performance was normal up to the second stage. 'The vehicle's third stage uses a solid motor system.
There was a fall in chamber pressure in solid motor and the mission could not be accomplished. We are studying the performance,' Narayanan told newspersons.
Sunday's mission was to place the 1,696kg EOS-09 radar imaging satellite into a 529-km orbit. EOS-09 carried a synthetic aperture radar for remote sensing through clouds and at night, with uses in agriculture, forestry, soil moisture monitoring, disaster response, and surveillance.
This was Isro's 2nd consecutive mission failure this year
PSLV-C61 was the 63rd PSLV flight and the 27th in its XL configuration, designed to carry heavier payloads. The PSLV has launched around 345 satellites for 34 countries and was also used in major Isro missions including Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission, and Astrosat.
The first failure in PSLV's storied history occurred during the rocket's maiden flight, PSLV-D1, on Sept 20, 1993.
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The second was PSLV-C39 on Aug 31, 2017, which failed to deploy the IRNSS-1H satellite due to a heat shield separation issue. This was also Isro's second consecutive mission failure in 2025. In Jan, the NVS-02 navigation satellite could not be moved to its final orbit due to a faulty oxidiser valve in its liquid apogee motor.
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