ISRO’s PSLV-C62 mission, which lifted off on Monday carrying an Earth Observation satellite along with 14 commercial payloads, encountered an anomaly during the third stage of flight, officials said.
The 44.4-metre tall, four-stage rocket launched as scheduled at 10:18 am from the first launch pad at the spaceport. The mission, the first of the year, was part of a contract secured by NewSpace India Ltd, ISRO’s commercial arm, to deploy satellites for domestic and international customers.
“The PSLV is a four-stage vehicle with two solid stages and two liquid stages. The performance of the vehicle up to the end of the third stage was expected. Close to the end of the third stage we are seeing more disturbance in the vehicle and subsequently, there was a deviation observed in the flight path,” ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan told the team at the Mission Control Centre.
“We are analysing the data and we shall come back at the earliest.”
According to ISRO, the first two stages performed within expected parameters.
However, at the end of the third stage (PS3), the vehicle experienced “disturbances.”
The space agency later confirmed on its X account: “The PSLV-C62 mission encountered an anomaly during the end of PS3 (third stage). A detailed analysis has been initiated.”
The mission aimed to place the primary Earth Observation satellite and multiple co-passenger satellites into a 512 km Sun-Synchronous Orbit.
Following the separation of these satellites, the fourth stage (PS4) of the rocket would have been restarted to de-boost and facilitate the separation of the last payload, the Kestrel Initial Technology Demonstrator (KID) capsule.
This process, planned to last over two hours after lift-off, would have concluded with the PS4 stage and KID capsule re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere and making a splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean.
The PSLV, considered ISRO’s trusted workhorse, has successfully launched numerous satellites in the past. Authorities said the anomaly is under detailed review to assess the impact on the mission.