An Indian workhorse rocket in service for over 30 years failed on Sunday to place a satellite in orbit after a third-stage malfunction — India’s second straight
space mission failure following a satellite setback earlier this year.
The four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off successfully from the Sriharikota spaceport off the Andhra Pradesh coast but encountered a performance drop during its third stage, around 330km above the planet.
“During the third stage… there was a fall in the chamber pressure of the motor case,” said V. Narayanan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro). “The mission could not be accomplished.”
The third stage, scheduled to ignite 262 seconds after the launch following normal performance of the first and second stages, was intended to boost the rocket’s speed from 4km per second to 6km per second during a planned 122-second burn.
Sunday’s launch marked the 63rd flight of the PSLV, a rocket declared operational in 1996 that has launched more than 300 satellites, with only two past failures — its maiden flight in 1993 and another in 2017. The PSLV has ferried dozens of satellites for foreign customers since 1999. Three developmental flights between 1993 and 1996 preceded its operationalisation.
The rocket’s payload on Sunday was the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS)-09, an Isro-built spacecraft weighing 1,696kg and designed to provide images under all-weather conditions, with a planned lifespan of five years.
“Heartbreaking to see a failure in PSLV today…. It’s a powerful reminder of how complex and unforgiving spaceflight can be — even for proven workhorses like the PSLV,” Pawan Kumar Chandana, CEO of private rocket company Skyroot Aerospace, posted on X.
“This is a setback, but not unusual in the domain of complex launch systems,” Chandana told The Telegraph. “The loss of EOS-09 will delay critical data for national security and disaster management. Failures in proven vehicles such as the PSLV can stem from even the tiniest
component issues among thousands.”
Experts noted that the PSLV’s 2017 failure was followed by multiple successful missions. “This too will be a learning moment, making the vehicle more robust for future launches,” Chandana said.
In February, Isro encountered another setback while trying to position a navigational satellite, NVS-02, into its final orbit after launching it on January 29 aboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle — Isro’s 100th launch from Sriharikota.
These recent setbacks come at a time when Isro is pursuing ambitious missions, including a human spaceflight aboard an Indian-built capsule in 2027, an Indian space station by 2035, and further lunar
missions, including a plan to land astronauts on the moon by 2040.