ISRO's trusted PSLV faces rare failure in 101st launch

Fails to deliver earth observation satellite in orbit

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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) faced a setback early Sunday morning when its PSLV-C61 rocket failed to place the Earth Observation Satellite EOS-09 into orbit, following an anomaly during the third stage of its flight.

The mission, which marked the 101st launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, began with a successful lift-off at 5:59 am. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), ISRO's most flown and dependable launch vehicle, appeared to perform nominally through its first and second stages. However, trouble began a little over six minutes after liftoff.

"Today we targeted the 101st launch from Sriharikota, the PSLV-C61 EOS-09 mission," ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said during a post-launch briefing. "The PSLV is a four-stage vehicle and up to the second stage, the performance was normal. The third stage motor started perfectly, but during its functioning, we are seeing an observation and the mission could not be accomplished."

Narayanan stated that a drop in chamber pressure in the third stage motor was detected, preventing the satellite from Reaching its intended orbit.

"We are studying the entire performance. We shall come back at the earliest," he added.