BENGALURU: An Indian rocket carrying 16 loads of equipment and experiments, including an Earth monitoring satellite, veered off course after takeoff on Monday, in a fresh setback for the Indian Space Research Organisation’s launch vehicle.
It was the second disappointment for the polar satellite launch vehicle in about eight months, affecting its reputation for reliability, with a success rate of more than 90% in about 60 previous missions.
PSLV-C62 took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota island at 10:18 am (04488 GMT) carrying the EOS-N1 observation satellite and 15 other payloads developed by startups and academic institutions in India and abroad.
ISRO mission control said the rocket operated normally for most of the flight before an unexpected disturbance 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 had failed or where the rocket ended up.
The PSLV has been instrumental to India’s space programme, having launched missions such as Chandrayaan-1 and the Aditya-L1 solar observatory. It also supports India’s push to open manufacturing space to private industry.
