13/01/2026
India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), suffered a major setback on January 12, 2026 when its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C62) failed to place its payloads into orbit after an anomaly in the rocket’s third stage disrupted the mission.
The rocket lifted off normally from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, but a malfunction during the third stage burn caused the vehicle to deviate from its intended flight path, preventing it from injecting its satellites into orbit.
As a result of the failure, all 16 satellites on board—including the DRDO’s strategic surveillance satellite Anvesha and 15 other domestic and international payloads—were lost and are expected to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up, marking a significant loss for both scientific and commercial customers.
This mission was ISRO’s first launch of 2026 and comes on the heels of another recent PSLV anomaly, making it the second consecutive failure involving the PSLV’s third stage after a similar issue in 2025.