India has long projected its space program as a symbol of technological advancement and national pride. For decades, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) enjoyed an international reputation for reliability, particularly through its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), widely described as the “workhorse” of India’s space fleet. However, a string of launch failures since 2021 has raised serious questions about the sustainability of that reputation.

The latest setback occurred in January 2026 when PSLV-C62 failed shortly after launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. The mission carried the Earth observation satellite EOS-N1 (“Anvesha”) along with fifteen co-passenger satellites. A technical anomaly in the rocket’s third stage reportedly caused a sudden drop in chamber pressure, leading to the loss of all payloads.

This failure marked the second unsuccessful PSLV mission within eight months and the fifth major setback in India’s launch program since 2021. While launch failures are not uncommon in the inherently risky domain of space exploration, the frequency and clustering of recent incidents have fueled debate about whether systemic pressures are undermining operational reliability.

For nearly three decades, the PSLV built a reputation as one of the world’s most dependable medium-lift launch vehicles. Between its first successful mission in the 1990s and 2017, it experienced........

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