Indian attempt to launch Earth-observing radar satellite ends in failure

NEW DELHI: India’s attempt to launch an Earth-observing radar satellite on Saturday night ended in failure.

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) EOS-09 spacecraft lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

The satellite was lost due to an issue with the third stage of the rocket about six minutes into the launch.

“The PSLV is a four stage vehicle. The performance was quite normal up to the second stage,” ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan said in a televised statement after the launch.

“Third stage, motor started perfectly, but during the functioning of the third stage, the mission could not be accomplished.”

The EOS-09 launch was intended as the ninth mission in India’s Earth Observation Satellite series. The satellite was equipped with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payload, which had it successfully deployed, would have allowed observations of our planet both day and night and through cloud cover.

“Its ability to provide round-the-clock, reliable intelligence is especially significant given ongoing security concerns along India’s borders with Pakistan and China,” Indian media reported , before the launch failure.

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