India’s latest space mission faced a rare failure on Sunday when its rocket, PSLV-C61, was unable to place the EOS-09 Earth observation satellite into orbit due to a technical fault during launch.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) reported that the problem occurred in the third stage of the rocket, when a sudden drop in chamber pressure halted the rocket’s progress. This failure caused the mission to fall short of its intended goal.
“During the third stage, there was a fall in the chamber pressure of the motor case, and the mission could not be accomplished,” said ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan. He added that ISRO engineers are currently reviewing the flight’s data and a full report will be shared after further analysis.
The launch took place at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, early Sunday morning. Despite the disappointment, ISRO’s track record remains strong. Since its first PSLV flight in 1993, this marks only the third failure in over three decades of mostly successful missions.
A Failure Analysis Committee is expected to investigate the exact cause of the malfunction, local news sources reported.
ISRO, known for its cost-effective and ambitious projects, has made impressive progress in space over the past decade. It reached global headlines in 2014 by sending a spacecraft to Mars, and in 2023, it became the fourth country to land on the Moon.
India continues to serve the global space industry by launching satellites for several nations, and this setback is widely seen as a temporary pause in its growing journey among space powers.
