PSLV-C62: KID re-entry capsule from Spain could have key data

BENGALURU: Orbital Paradigm, the firm whose re-entry capsule Kestrel Initial Technology Demonstrator or KID was among the payloads on the failed PSLV-C62 mission, Tuesday said it has begun analysing data the capsule sent after separating from the launch vehicle.“Our KID capsule, against all odds, separated from PSLV-C62, switched on, and transmitted data over 3+ minutes. We’re reconstructing [the] trajectory. We survived peak heat and peak g-load (~28g recorded)...Full report will come,” the firm said.Isro, would have also begun analysing data it had obtained up to the time the third stage (PS3) of the launch vehicle suffered a glitch. Aside from KID and India’s own strategic satellite Anvesha or EOS-N1 by DRDO, the mission carried a satellite (Munal) for Nepal through the ministry of external affairs (MEA), a technology demonstrator (AyulSat) from startup OrbitAID aimed at cracking on-orbit refuelling, along with 12 other payloads.On Monday, the 44.4-metre-tall PSLV, flying its fifth mission in the DL (dual strap-on) configuration, lifted off from SDSC’s first launch pad at 10.18am, about 1.30 minutes after scheduled time. About 8.40 minutes later, after the third-stage shutoff and fourth-stage (PS4) ignition was announced — command was initiated but there was no confirmation if PS4 ignited — the atmosphere in mission control turned tense.

Narayanan eventually announced that the mission had failed. The failure came only nine months after a glitch in PSLV-C61’s PS3 prevented EOS-09, another strategic satellite, from reaching orbit on May 18, 2025, marking a second consecutive failure of PSLV. Not only has PSLV never failed back-to-back in the past, it has also not seen the same rocket stage falter more than once — until now.“...Close to the end of the third stage [PS3] we saw little more disturbance in the vehicle roll rates and subsequently there was a deviation in the flight path. We are analysing the data and we shall come back at the earliest,” Isro chairman V Narayanan said on Monday.