India, Jan. 12 -- India's space programme faced fresh uncertainty on Monday after ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C62 ran into a critical anomaly during its third stage, clouding the fate of 16 satellites it was meant to place in orbit. The incident marks another challenge for ISRO's most reliable launch vehicle and has triggered an intensive technical investigation.

The 44.4-metre-tall rocket lifted off at 10:18 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, carrying the EOS-N1 (Anvesha) Earth observation satellite along with 15 co-passenger satellites from India and abroad. The mission aimed to deploy them into a 512-kilometre Sun-Synchronous Orbit in just under 20 minutes.

The launch initially progressed as planned. ...