On January 12, 2026, millions watching the PSLV-C62 mission from Sriharikota felt their hearts sink. Minutes after liftoff, the rocket failed. Sixteen satellites, including DRDO's strategic surveillance satellite Anvesha (EOS-N1) and payloads from Indian startups and countries like Brazil, the UK, Nepal, Spain, and Thailand, were lost. What makes this failure particularly painful is the pattern. Just eight months earlier, on May 18, 2025, the PSLV-C61 mission carrying EOS-09 failed in an almost identical fashion.
For a vehicle that had only three failures in its first 62 launches, two consecutive breakdowns raise uncomfortable questions: Why was the May failure not fully resolved before launching again? With the PSLV-C61 investigation report still pending at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the decision to rush the C62 launch is now under intense scrutiny. This is the heart of the problem: launching without learning.
The rocket's first two stages performed nominally. However, during the third stage (PS3)—a solid motor phase—a critical anomaly occurred. Telemetry showed a drop in chamber pressure, the same issue that doomed the May 2025 mission. The rocket lost control, its roll rates spiked, and it drifted off course. Without the required thrust to reach orbital velocity, the mission was lost.
ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan has announced a Failure Analysis Committee. While space exploration is inherently risky, NASA and SpaceX have faced their share of disasters. The difference between a setback and a crisis is the ability to learn. Two identical failures suggest a systemic issue rather than a random accident.
“The financial blow is significant, with losses estimated between 200 and 250 million dollars. While international payloads and some Indian startups carry insurance through domestic and international insurers, the trust deficit is harder to cover. PSLV's lifetime success rate has dipped to 93.7 per cent. Consequently, insurance premiums for future Indian launches are expected to jump 20-30 per cent, threatening the cost advantage that made ISRO a global leader in the small satellite market. For international partners like Spain, Thailand, Brazil, the UK, and Nepal, the loss of years of engineering work is devastating. PSLV missions are now grounded until at least mid-February 2026, causing a massive backlog for NewSpace India Limited, ISRO's commercial arm,” explained space analyst Girish Linganna.
Indian startups that lost their satellites on this mission have lost years of research and development. Despite staying positive publicly, this could seriously affect investor confidence in India's space sector. The 2020 reforms that opened up space to private players now face their biggest test. Will venture capitalists continue betting on Indian space startups after witnessing such losses?
Similarly, the loss of Anvesha is a blow to national security. Designed for hyperspectral imaging, it was intended to unmask military camouflage along India's borders. Beyond the hardware, there is a psychological toll. The Gaganyaan program, India's human spaceflight mission, uses the larger LVM3 (GSLV MkIII) rocket, not the PSLV.
However, the manufacturing of solid motors for the PSLV's third stage shares quality control protocols with the GSLV. If there is a broader manufacturing rot, the safety of India's future astronauts becomes a paramount concern.
Is ISRO trying to do too much?
India's space economy was valued at $8.4 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $44 billion by 2033. Achieving this requires absolute reliability. Many experts now ask: Is ISRO trying to do too much? With Chandrayaan-4, Shukrayaan (Venus mission), Gaganyaan, regular satellite launches, and commercial missions running simultaneously, quality checks may be suffering. The fact that both recent failures involve the same PS3 stage suggests a specific, recurring problem that should have been caught and fixed after the first failure.
The recurring PS3 failure points toward two main possibilities. First, manufacturing defects—a bad batch of solid propellant or casing materials. Second, design ageing—the 30-year-old PSLV design may be struggling with modern, heavier, and more complex multi-satellite rideshare configurations. Why is only PSLV failing while ISRO's other rockets like GSLV continue performing well? The answer likely lies in these factors. PSLV has been our workhorse for three decades, but perhaps it's showing its age and limitations.
“This crisis should be ISRO's wake-up call. Success can breed complacency; failure forces evolution. To restore global confidence, ISRO must take immediate action. First, publicly release the investigation reports for both C61 and C62. People deserve to know what went wrong. Second, ground the PSLV fleet until the PS3 motor is completely redesigned or re-certified. No more rushing launches to meet calendar deadlines. Third, order external audits wherein we invite private sector experts and international partners to audit quality control processes. Fresh eyes can spot problems that internal teams might miss. Fourth, accelerate the development of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle to replace the ageing PSLV. Fifth, empowerment—fully hand over commercial operations to private players, allowing ISRO scientists to focus on research, development, and deep-space exploration,” pointed out Linganna.
To prevent future failures, this expert feels that ISRO should consider replacing the entire PS3 solid motor inventory with freshly manufactured units using stricter quality protocols. “Install additional sensors and telemetry on the third stage to catch problems earlier. It might be time to retire the ageing PSLV design entirely and move to newer launch vehicles. The technology that worked brilliantly for thirty years may not be suitable for today’s complex missions,” says Linganna.
No doubt that the failure of PSLV-C62 on January 12, 2026, comes at a sensitive moment for India’s space ecosystem, but in the global context, it is far from an isolated or unprecedented event. Across decades of orbital launch history, even the most mature and commercially successful space powers, including Europe, Russia, China, and the United States, have experienced clusters of launch failures that temporarily disrupted markets, shook customer confidence, and forced programmatic resets. Viewed through this comparative lens, the PSLV-C62 setback reflects a familiar stress cycle in launch systems rather than a singular collapse of capability.
For the Indian Space Research Organisation, PSLV-C62 was primarily a commercial mission, carrying a mix of private, educational, and international payloads. Its loss, therefore, affects not only national objectives but also India’s standing as a dependable launch provider.
“Similar moments have confronted Europe through Arianespace, whose experience offers a particularly relevant comparison. Europe’s Ariane 5 achieved one of the most impressive reliability records in spaceflight, exceeding 94–98 per cent success over more than a hundred launches. Yet even this highly trusted system suffered anomalies, such as the 2018 VA-241 mission that placed satellites into an incorrect orbit. The difference lay in response: swift investigation, transparent communication, and rapid corrective action allowed Ariane 5 to continue flying with minimal long-term commercial damage,” Srimathy Kesan, the founder and CEO of Space Kidz India, told THE WEEK.
The implications extend beyond commerce into strategic and human spaceflight programs. Although PSLV is not the launch vehicle for Gaganyaan, repeated anomalies inevitably raise broader questions about organisational quality systems and supply chain robustness. Europe faced similar scrutiny when Vega failures coincided with the transition from Ariane 5 to Ariane 6, forcing ESA to reassure stakeholders that human-rated and heavy-lift programs were insulated from small-launcher issues. The lesson is that a clear separation of quality assurance streams and a visible safety culture are essential when human spaceflight is involved.
“PSLV’s overall performance remains strong by global standards, with a success rate comparable to Ariane 5 prior to its final years. However, two similar third-stage anomalies within a short span elevate concern, particularly because PSLV underpins India’s commercial launch offerings through NewSpace India Limited. In the commercial launch market, perception is critical: insurance premiums rise, contractual conditions tighten, and customers diversify launch options after consecutive failures. Europe’s Vega experience shows that even a technically capable vehicle can lose market momentum if corrective action is slow or opaque,” added Kesan.
Everyone deserves answers: the startups that lost their satellites, the foreign partners who trusted India with their payloads, and the taxpayers whose money funded Anvesha. But we shouldn't lose sight of what ISRO has achieved. Landing on the moon's south pole when superpowers failed, reaching Mars on the first attempt with a budget smaller than a Hollywood movie, these aren't flukes. They prove ISRO's capability and brilliance.
Failure will ultimately strengthen our space program. Failures expose hidden weaknesses that success conceals. They force uncomfortable conversations about quality, accountability, and systematic improvement. They remind us that space is unforgiving and demands perfection in every bolt, every weld, every calculation. India has a history of resilience. After the 2017 PSLV failure, the program returned stronger than ever. However, the stakes are higher now. We are no longer just a budget space agency; we are a global contender competing with the best in the world. The loss of PSLV-C62 must be the turning point where India moves from a culture of rushing for the calendar to a culture of perfection in every detail.
Will India recover from this setback? Absolutely. The real question is whether we'll use this failure as a catalyst to build a more transparent, robust, and accountable space ecosystem. If we choose honesty over face-saving, quality over speed, and long-term excellence over short-term targets, then years from now, we might look back at PSLV-C62 not as a disaster, but as the moment that pushed India to become a truly world-class space power.