EOS-09 mission: ISRO chief Narayanan's first statement after satellite launch failure

ISRO chief V Narayanan (Courtesy: ANI)

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) failed to accomplish the launch of an Earth observation satellite onboard a PSLV-C61 rocket from Sriharikota on Sunday morning. It encountered an anomaly in its third stage due to which the satellite launch was not accomplished.

According to ISRO chairman V Narayanan, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is a 4-stage rocket and the first two stages were normal.

"Today we targeted the 101st launch from Sriharikota, the PSLVC61 EOS-09 mission. The PSLV is a four-stage vehicle and up to the second stage, the performance was normal. The third stage motor started perfectly but during the functioning of the third stage we are seeing an observation and the mission could not be accomplished," Narayanan said.

Today 101st launch was attempted, PSLV-C61 performance was normal till 2nd stage. Due to an observation in 3rd stage, the mission could not be accomplished.

ISRO (@isro) May 18, 2025

In his brief address after the lift-off, the ISRO chief added, "We are studying the entire performance, we shall come back at the earliest after the analysis".

EOS-09 is a repeat satellite similar to EOS-04 launched in 2022 that has been designed with the mission objective to ensure remote sensing data for the user community engaged in operational applications and to improve the frequency of observation.

The mission's payload, a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) which is inside the satellite is capable of providing images for various earth observation applications under all-weather conditions day and night.

This all-weather, round-the-clock, imaging is vital for applications, ranging from agriculture and forestry monitoring to disaster management, urban planning and national security.

The rocket was earlier launched at a prefixed time of 5.59 am.