PSLV-C62 mission suffers ‘anomaly', ISRO says rocket deviated — inside explosive 10 minutes

The PSLV-C62 mission launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) suffered an anomaly during the end of the PS3 stage, the Indian space agency said.

“The PSLV-C62 mission encountered an anomaly at the end of the PS3 stage. A detailed analysis has been initiated," ISRO posted on X.

Around 10 minutes and 30 seconds after the lift off, the presenter said there was an issue in retrieving the trajectory data from the mission.

“We can't receive any data. In some time, our scientists will provide further details,” the presenter said as tension simmered at the ISRO facility.

What happened exactly? Inside explosive 10 minutes

The ISRO launched the PSLV-C62 mission from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, around 10:18 am on Monday, January 12.

Around 52 seconds after the launch, the first stage was executed “successfully,” the presenter said.

After 1 minute, it was announced: "Both strap-on [boosters] separated…The core S-139 motor [core booster] continues to burn and develop thrust."

At two minutes (after the liftoff), scientists announced that the second stage had ignited. "The first stage had completed its operation."

A minute after this, the payload fairing got separated, and a minute after, it was declared that the second stage had separated and the third stage was "ignited".

Six to seven minutes after this announcement (around 10:26 am), the presenter said that the scientists were unable to receive the data.

What was the 'anomaly'?

The ISRO said a disturbance was observed in the third stage of the PSLV-C62 rocket. Meanwhile, ISRO chief V Narayanan told PTI that the PSLV-C62 rocket deviated from the flight path.

Addressing the team at the Mission Control Centre, ISRO chief Narayanan said, "The PSLV is a four-stage vehicle with two solid stages and two liquid stages. The performance of the vehicle up to the end of the third stage was expected."

"Close to the end of the third stage, we are seeing more disturbance in the vehicle, and subsequently, there was a deviation observed in the flight path," Narayanan said.

He added, “We are analysing the data, and we shall come back at the earliest.”

The PSLV-C62 was launched to place the 'Anvesha'/EOS-N1 satellite and 14 other satellites into the sun-synchronous polar orbit (SSO) – at least a hundred kilometres above the Earth's surface.