Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium Director, B. R. Guruprasad, on Sunday, stated that India is going to conduct its first launch of the year in space on Monday with Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C62.
“Tomorrow, on January 12, 2026, is the first launch of the year being conducted by India. This launch vehicle is one of the most reliable ones in the world. The PSLV has also launched spacecraft such as Chandrayaan-1, Mangalyaan, Aditya-L1, and others,” he said.
ISRO’s statement on the launch
The lift-off of the PSLV-C62 rocket, with a lift off mass of 260 tonne, has been rescheduled to 10.18 hrs on January 12 from the earlier 10.17 am on Monday, ISROsaid. “Yes. Countdown started at 12.48 pm. 22 hours 30 minutes duration. Launch is at 10.18 hrs tomorrow,” ISRO sources told PTI on Sunday.
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The PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 mission would initially deploy the Earth Observation Satellite built by Thailand and the United Kingdom, followed by 13 other co-passenger satellites into the sun-synchronous orbit around 17 minutes after lift-off.
Subsequently, the separation of the fourth stage of the rocket (PS4) and demonstration of Kestrel Initial Technology Demonstrator (KID) capsule, weighing about 25 kg, belonging to a Spanish startup, is expected to take place in over 2 hours after the launch.
According to ISRO, scientists would restart the fourth stage of the rocket to demonstrate the KID capsule to make its re-entry into the earth atmosphere. For this to occur, the scientists would re-start the fourth stage to de-boost and enter a re-entry trajectory, and this will be followed by the KID capsule separation.
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64th launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
Speaking to ANI, Guruprasad said that the launch will mark the 64th launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. It will take an Earth observation satellite named “Anvesha, EOS-N1” to a polar sun-synchronised orbit, at least a hundred kilometres above the Earth’s surface.
“It will be the 64th launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. This vehicle is going to take a satellite called Anvesha, EOS-N1, an Earth observation satellite, into a polar sun-synchronous orbit, probably a couple of hundred kilometres above the Earth’s surface,” he added.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in a post on X had stated, “The Launch of PSLV-C62 Mission is scheduled on 12 January 2026 at 10:17 hrs IST from First Launch Pad (FLP), SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.” Earlier, on December 24, ISRO successfully launched the BlueBird Block-2 communication satellite for the United States’ AST SpaceMobile. The satellite was successfully placed in orbit, and the mission was declared a success.
Tracing the launch of BlueBird Block-2
The launch took place from the Satish Dhawan Space Station in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 8:55 AM IST.
The mission deployed the next-generation communication satellite designed to provide high-speed cellular broadband directly to smartphones worldwide. The BlueBird Block-2 spacecraft would be the heaviest payload to be launched into Low Earth Orbit in the history of the LVM3 rocket. |
