New Delhi: The PSLV-C62 mission on Monday was the first ISRO launch failure carrying private payloads from domestic and international start-ups. Until now, every failed launch had carried only ISRO satellites and payloads.
According to TakeMe2Space, EON Space Labs, and Dhruva Space – the three Indian start-ups whose satellites were on the mission – the failure is an unfortunate occurrence, but they plan to continue their association with ISRO. Speaking to ThePrint, all three companies said they have complete trust in the Indian space programme.
“Space is inherently a high-risk, high-return business, and we’ve now experienced the risk side of it. We’re working on our next missions now,” said Anand Rajagopalan, executive vice president (business strategy), TakeMe2Space. “We’re already in talks with NSIL for our future launches.”
In the PSLV-C62 rocket, there were 15 satellites from Indian and foreign start-ups, some of which had launched their first payload through ISRO. These included TakeMe2Space and EON Space Labs — both Hyderabad-based space-tech companies. Other start-ups such as Brazil’s AlltoSpace and Spain’s aerospace company Orbital Paradigm also had payloads on the PSLV-C62 mission.
This was ISRO’s second Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) mission failure in a row — after the PSLV-C61 mission in May 2025 — and it took down both foreign and Indian start-up payloads with it. The failure comes at a time when launch services globally are becoming more competitive with SpaceX’s reusable rocket, and China is achieving close to 100 launches a year.
Given ISRO’s recent string of failures and lower launch cadence, questions are now being raised about its reliability as a launch partner for private players. What does this mean for the 300+ space tech companies in the Indian landscape, which look to ISRO for their launches?
Some experts say that the C62 mission has indeed put a dent in the feasibility of ISRO as a launch partner, especially for foreign players looking for reliable and cost-accessible companies, of which there are few in the world.
“There might be doubts in the minds of people, because this failure is coming right after the last PSLV failure,” said Ajey Lele, deputy director general at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). “But, the fact is that this is the first time ISRO has lost a foreign payload, and PSLV is very successful otherwise.”
Other sources in the space industry also spoke about how, for new and upcoming space start-ups, failures like PSLV-C62 might hit their finances. Already, Indian space start-ups such as Pixxel and Digantara have opted for Musk’s SpaceX to launch their satellites. Other Indian players, however, remain undeterred.
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ISRO’s private sector launches
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) opened up its rockets to private and commercial launches in 1999, on the PSLV-C2 mission. Along with India’s own remote sensing satellite, it took up Korea’s KITSAT-3 and Germany’s DLR-TUBSAT as its first international and commercial payloads, that too on a PSLV.
“The whole Indian space programme was arguably built on top of the PSLV,” said Ashwin Prasad, research analyst at the Takshashila Institution, to ThePrint. “It is the most successful Indian space rocket, and so its failure is definitely an outlier in the grand scheme of things.”
In 2021, ISRO launched the Amazonia mission, which had the first dedicated payloads for New Space India Limited (NSIL), ISRO’s commercial arm. This meant that the launch occurred after NSIL entered into a dedicated contract with Spaceflight Inc., USA, to rent out the PSLV for a commercial launch.
This was also around the time when India’s first space-tech start-ups were coming up, and in November 2022, India’s first private satellites were launched from Indian soil aboard ISRO’s PSLV. Both Pixxel and Dhruva, two Indian space start-ups, sent their satellites as co-passengers on the PSLV-C54 mission.
However, this wasn’t the first launch ever by an Indian private company. That had happened back in 2018, when Mumbai-based Exseedspace launched its ExseedSAT-1 aboard a SpaceX rocket.
Since then, many other companies, including Pixxel and Digantara, have also opted for SpaceX launches.
“SpaceX and ISRO are broadly comparable in pricing for smaller payloads — say below 50 kg,” said Anirudh Sharma, co-founder of Digantara. “However, once you move into the larger payload classes, SpaceX tends to offer a more cost-efficient option. We have flown with both SpaceX and ISRO, and there are benefits to both. But it depends on each company and their needs.”
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Benefits of SpaceX
On the global level, there are a few reliable launch services that are used by all countries and companies – SpaceX, ISRO, Arianespace (French), Roscosmos (Russian), and a few upcoming ones like Blue Origin and Firefly Aerospace. However, for emerging space start-ups looking to launch their first few payloads, the formula is set.
“As a start-up, we look for three things – cost, reliability, and certainty of timelines,” explained Sharma. “During your first few launches, what is needed is launching at the right time. If your launches are delayed, then your entire business is delayed. You will start incurring cash flow problems. So certainty is crucial to choosing a launch provider,” he added.
Other space tech companies that ThePrint spoke to agreed with Sharma. Sources in the industry also said that while many depend on ISRO’s expertise and facilities like IN-SPACe, everyone looks for other, cheaper, and more effective launch options, including SpaceX.
With SpaceX’s reusable rocket Falcon 9, which was introduced in 2015, the entire game of commercial space missions changed. SpaceX now provides close to 170 launches a year, the highest ever in the world. Its strong launch cadence also provides for a more seamless process, with clients being informed weeks in advance and the launch date rarely changing. These benefits add to SpaceX’s reputation as a reliable launch provider.
ISRO’s still nascent, needs more time
Both industry experts and space tech companies, though, are quick to point out that failed launches are part of the space business, and that ISRO’s entire record should not be judged by it.
“When you enter the space industry, you just know that there are chances of failure. No one wants a failure, of course, but that’s just how it is,” said Srimathy Kesan, founder and CEO of Space Kidz India. “You need to give ISRO time, and understand that we’re still trying to catch up with the West. If we don’t risk, how can we learn?”
Even SpaceX had its fair share of failures in the initial years, pointed out Kesan.
In 2025, there were three back-to-back failures in the SpaceX launches of its Starship rocket, as part of the test flights. Even the Falcon 1 rocket failed in its first three attempts before 2010, before it became one of the world’s most reliable rockets.
“They failed multiple times before succeeding. Every successful space organisation, including ISRO, learns and grows from such failures,” said Rajagopalan. “I believe that the best people to deal with the situation are at ISRO and already working on it.”
The Theos-2 satellite on the PSLV-C62 mission, which was launched jointly by the UK and Thailand, was confirmed to be insured by the Thai space agency GISTDA. According to sources, most of the other satellites in the mission, though, and private satellites in general, are not insured to protect against mission failures. This is because space tech insurance has not entered the private space sector yet due to high premium costs. As the industry evolves and formalises, launch failures like this are reminders of the reality of the risk.
“Nowadays space might seem like a cool, hip, up-and-coming industry. But space veterans and everyone serious about this area know the challenges when they come in,” said Kesan. “SpaceX knows it, NASA knows it, ISRO knows it, and I bet these start-ups do too.”
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)