Sriharikota is a barrier island off the coast of Andhra Pradesh. It houses the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, which is India’s only spaceport used for launching satellites. It was chosen for its location near the equator and the vast sea to the east for safety during launches.

The PSLV-C61 mission, launched in May 2025, failed when its third stage lost chamber pressure. This caused the rocket to lose thrust and fail to reach its intended orbit. The similarity between that failure and the current C62 mission suggests a recurring technical issue in the rocket’s third stage.

The PSLV is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by ISRO. Since its first successful launch in 1994, it has launched hundreds of Indian and foreign satellites. It is called a ‘workhorse’ because of its high success rate and its role in landmark missions like Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan.

Quality Assurance involves rigorous testing and inspection of every component of a rocket before launch. Since PSLV technology is ‘mature’ (well-understood), failures are less likely to be due to bad design and more likely due to errors in manufacturing, assembly, or testing—which are all part of Quality Assurance.

ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) operates under the Department of Space (DoS), which reports directly to the Prime Minister of India. When a mission fails, an FAC is formed to investigate. Usually, summaries are shared with the public, but in the case of C61, the full report was kept confidential with the PMO.

A rocket has three types of motion: pitch (up/down), yaw (left/right), and roll (spinning around its long axis). A ‘roll rate disturbance’ means the rocket started spinning uncontrollably or at the wrong speed. This usually indicates a problem with the engine’s thrust or the control system, which can lead to the rocket deviating from its path.

NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) was established in 2019 to commercially exploit the research and development work of ISRO. Its main goal is to sell PSLV launches to international customers. However, they face heavy competition from private companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which offers low-cost and reusable rockets.

Satellites cost hundreds of crores to build and launch. To protect this investment, owners buy insurance. If a rocket has a high failure rate, insurance companies charge much higher ‘premiums’ (fees). If PSLV becomes too expensive to insure, international customers will switch to other rockets like SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

Dr. V. Narayanan took over as ISRO Chairman in early 2024. While he has overseen successful missions like the LVM-3 M6, his leadership has been criticized in this editorial for being less transparent about mission failures compared to previous chairmen who were more open with the media and public.

Launch cadence refers to how often a space agency launches rockets. ISRO is under pressure to increase its cadence to compete with SpaceX, which launches almost every week. However, the editorial argues that safety and quality should not be sacrificed for the sake of speed.

The DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) develops technology for India’s military. The EOS-N1 (also known as Anvesha) is a surveillance satellite designed to monitor borders. Because these satellites are critical for national security, there is often pressure on ISRO to launch them as soon as possible, which might lead to a ‘rush’.

The LVM-3 (formerly GSLV Mk III) is India’s most powerful rocket. It is used to launch heavy communication satellites and is the chosen vehicle for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission. Its recent success in the M6 mission (December 2025) provides some balance to the failures of the smaller PSLV rocket.

The Department of Space (DoS) is directly under the Prime Minister’s Office. While ISRO executes the missions, the DoS handles the policy and administrative side. The editorial suggests that the DoS has the power to make the failure reports public to ensure transparency and accountability.