New Delhi, Jan. 16 -- Beyond prompting questions about commitment to transparency and concerns over institutional complacency, the second successive failure of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) mission has the potential to create doubts about the otherwise celebrated space program's reliability.

The mission designated PSLV-C62, carrying a payload of as many as 16 satellites, failed in the third stage of its four-stage flight on January 12. The fact that this failure occurred during the third stage of the flight, which also brought down PSLV-C61 in May 2025, has been causing concerns among experts whether the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is confronting some deeper technical challenges in its signature PSLV program...