Indian rocket launch loses control after liftoff in fresh blow to ISRO
BENGALURU, Jan 12 (Reuters) – An Indian rocket carrying 16 loads of equipment and experiments, including an Earth monitoring satellite, derailed after liftoff on Monday, a new setback for the Indian Space Research Organization’s launch vehicle.
It was a second disappointment for the polar satellite launcher in about eight months, damaging its reputation for reliability, with a success rate of more than 90% on around sixty past missions.
The PSLV-C62 took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on the island of Sriharikota at 10:18 am (04488 GMT) with the EOS-N1 observation satellite and 15 other payloads developed by startups and academic institutions in India and abroad on board.
ISRO Mission Control said the rocket operated normally for most of the flight before an unexpected disruption and deviation from its trajectory.
“The PSLV-C62 mission encountered an anomaly at the end of the PS3 stage. A detailed analysis has been initiated,” ISRO said in a statement, without giving further details on what happened or where the rocket ended up.
The PSLV has played a pivotal role in India’s space program, having launched missions such as Chandrayaan-1 and the Aditya Solar Observatory-L1. This also supports India’s efforts to open up the manufacturing space to private industry.
(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru; editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
