Committee to probe ‘systemic issues’ behind repeated failure of PSLV rocket

A committee will investigate systemic issues behind ISRO's PSLV rocket failures, focusing on manufacturing and accountability processes.

A committee that includes K. VijayRaghavan, former Principal Scientific Advisor, and S. Somanath, former Chairman, India Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will probe “systemic issues” underlying the successive failures of ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

While technical committees probe and submit ‘failure analysis reports’ when mishaps occur, this committee, The Hindu has reliably learnt, will investigate questions on whether “organisational” problems may have played a role in the debacles involving the PSLV.

On January 12, 2026 the PSLV-C62 failed in its mission to deliver 16 satellites into orbit, and crashed into the sea after the third stage of the rocket failed to ignite. This was similar to the May 18, 2025 failure of the PSLV-C61, in which, too, the third stage failed to fire, destroying as a result the EOS-09 satellite intended for the government’s strategic needs.

The committee members consist of experts who are external to the ISRO, and are expected to table their findings to ISRO Chairman, V. Narayanan, before April. On February 3, 2026, The Hindu reported that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who is also a member of India’s Space Commission, visited the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, reportedly in connection with the failure of the PSLV-C62 mission.

”A national-level expert committee has been constituted and is reviewing the reason for the anomaly in the PSLV vehicle,” the ISRO said in a statement to The Hindu.

The PSLV’s failures would be the core focus of the report, and the committee would be looking into the processes in the manufacture, procurement, and assembling of various components of the rocket. This has implications for other rockets, too, The Hindu was told, because they have commonalities.