India’s much-hyped satellite launch fails after technical fault

India's space agency, known for its low-cost projects, experienced a technical issue during the launch of its PSLV-C61 vehicle, causing it to fail to place the EOS-09 surveillance satellite into its intended orbit.

In Sriharikota, in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre launched the EOS-09 Earth observation satellite on Sunday morning using the PSLV-C61 launch vehicle.

“During the third stage, there was a fall in the chamber pressure of the motor case, and the mission could not be accomplished,” said V. Narayanan, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

In a statement to local media, he added, “We are studying the entire performance and we shall come back at the earliest.”

India, the most populous country in the world, has a relatively low-budget aerospace programme that is rapidly approaching benchmarks set by major space powers.

Since the 1960s, it has conducted space research, successfully launching both domestic and foreign satellites.

In 2014, India placed one of its satellites into orbit around Mars.

In August 2023, India became the fourth country, after China, Russia, and the United States, to land an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon. ISRO's ambitions have continued to grow since then.

Its first attempt to land on the Moon in 2019, however, was unsuccessful. Sunday's PSLV mission marks the third documented setback in ISRO’s history, with the first dating back to 1993.

Narayanan stated that ISRO would review the mission’s performance and provide further details on the issue.

According to local media reports, a failure analysis committee will be formed to investigate the agency’s most recent setback.