Context: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is scheduled to launch the PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 Mission on January 12.
Strategic use
- The launch of the earth observation satellite (EOS-N1) satellite along with other payloads will take place from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
- EOS-N1 is an earth imaging satellite said to be built for strategic purposes. ISRO has not shared further details about the satellite. “The launch of PSLV-C62 Mission is scheduled on 12 January 2026 at 10:17 hrs IST,” ISRO posted on X.
- The PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 mission is the first launch for ISRO in 2026 and comes within a few days of successfully launching the U.S.’s BlueBird Block-2 satellite communication satellite in low earth orbit on December 24 onboard the LVM-3 launch vehicle.
Post glitch
- The launch of the PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 mission will be the 105th launch from Sriharikota.
- It is also an important launch for the space agency as the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV), which is ISRO’s workhorse, had suffered a glitch during its previous attempt to launch a satellite.
- On May 18, 2025, while ISRO attempted to launch the EOS-09 satellite aboard the PSLV-C61 it could not accomplish the mission due to an observation in the third stage of the rocket.
- PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 Mission will also launch payloads developed by start-up and academia from India and abroad.
Source: The Hindu