Mission Anvesha: ISRO’s PSLV-C62 Launches Satellite Anvesha to Boost India's Private Participation in Space

Satellite Anvesha (EOS-N1): ISRO’s PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 launches the surveillance satellite Anvesha from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre to boost India’s private participation in space. Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The Anvesha satellite is designed to provide cutting-edge imaging capabilities, described as ‘India’s hawk eye in space, a powerful surveillance satellite that will track troop movement, terrain changes, and crop patterns with pinpoint accuracy. ISRO confirmed the satellite has faced deviation at the third-stage(PS3) operation.

🚨 𝗣𝗦𝗟𝗩-𝗖𝟲𝟮 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 ❌️

PSLV has just experienced its second failed mission in a row. 💔

The mission proceeded nominally until T+380 sec when the vehicle lost control over its attitude (orientation) during Third Stage (PS3) action.#ISRO #PSLVC62 pic.twitter.com/Zq5BccH2WL

— ISRO Spaceflight (@ISROSpaceflight) January 12, 2026 white-space: pre-wrap;">Key Highlight: 

ISRO launches the Anvesha, a surveillance satellite, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 12.2026. It was lifted by the PSLV-C62, which utilized the PSLV-DL variant featuring two solid strap-on motors. It carried the 407 kg Anvesha satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of approximately 505 km. According to the ISRO’s chairman, Dr V. Narayanan, the mission proceeded nominally through the first and second stages; however, the third stage indicated increased disturbances in the vehicle’s roll rates, which resulted in the trajectory deviation, leaving the status of the satellite's precise orbital insertion under intense analysis by the Failure Analysis Committee.

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Anvesha Surveillance Satellite: India’s Hyperspectral “Hawk Eye”

The Anvesha satellite is designed to provide cutting-edge imaging capabilities, described as ‘India’s hawk eye in space, a powerful surveillance satellite that will track troop movement, terrain changes, and crop patterns with pinpoint accuracy. It is not a traditional satellite; by capturing data across a vast spectrum of light, it offers capabilities that are vital for modern security and environmental monitoring on the ground and other key features. 

• Strategic Surveillance: It can detect camouflaged military equipment by identifying materials that do not match the surrounding natural environment, like it can distinguish between natural vegetation and green-painted military camouflage based on their unique spectral signatures.

• Precision Tracking: Monitoring border movements and terrain shifts with a 12-metre resolution and a 12-km swath.

• Civilian Utility: it is equipped to assist in smart farming, mineral exploration, and disaster management by identifying soil moisture levels and crop health through spectral barcodes. It can also determine heavy armoured vehicle movement.

• Environmental Barcodes: Every pixel captured provides a "barcode" of the materials on the ground, allowing for precise identification of minerals or the early detection of crop diseases.

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   Key Feature of the Anvesha Satellite 

The PSLV-C62 mission highlights a change in India's space strategy from ISRO-led missions to a cooperative ecosystem comprising DRDO for strategic technology and the private sector for commercial innovation, notwithstanding the third-stage departure. As ISRO gets ready for a high-cadence launch schedule in 2026, the information obtained from the anomaly will be crucial for improving the PSLV, the "workhorse" of the organisation.(Source: https://www.isro.gov.in/media_isro/pdf/PSLVC62/PSLV_C62_Brochure080126.pdf)

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