India’s Sriharikota, May 18, 2025: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) revealed on Sunday that an anomaly during the third stage of flight prevented the completion of its PSLV-C61/EOS-09 mission, a rare setback for India’s thriving space program.
The EOS-09 Earth Observation Satellite was to be launched into a Sun-Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO) at 5:59 AM IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The satellite would have been able to take high-resolution pictures of the planet at regular intervals throughout the day thanks to this orbit, which is essential for agriculture, disaster relief, and environmental monitoring.
The EOS-09 carried a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload, designed to deliver sharp, all-weather imaging—regardless of cloud cover or lighting conditions.
This mission marked the 63rd flight of the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) and the 27th using its XL configuration, a workhorse vehicle that has been pivotal to ISRO’s satellite deployment operations for decades.
However, ISRO officials confirmed that while the first and second stages performed nominally, the mission encountered a critical issue during the third stage ignition and performance.
“The PSLV-C61 performance was normal up to the second stage. The third stage motor started correctly, but an observation during its operation led to the mission being declared unsuccessful,” said ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan during a brief media statement.
This marks only the third recorded failure of the PSLV in its long operational history—previous failures occurred in 1993 and 2017, highlighting the overall reliability of the system despite today’s anomaly.
ISRO has not released further details on the nature of the observation or the potential salvageability of the mission, but an internal committee is expected to investigate and release a detailed report.
Despite the setback, ISRO remains committed to its upcoming launches and continues to be a leading name in cost-effective space innovation.
Key Takeaways:
PSLV-C61 failed during its third stage of flight.
EOS-09 was designed for earth observation using SAR imaging.
Mission marks the 3rd PSLV failure out of 101 launches.
Investigation underway to determine cause of failure.
