The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is a 44-metre, four-stage rocket that alternates solid and liquid stages. Since its first successful flight in 1994 it has launched Chandrayaan-1, Mangalyaan, Aditya-L1 and hundreds of foreign satellites — and earned the nickname "ISRO's workhorse".
PSLV has flown 64 times. These 20 flights are the ones that shaped it — debuts of each variant, records, failures and the fixes that followed.
20 milestones from 1993 to 2026: 15 successes, 4 failures, 1 partial successes and 0 other milestones.
Two consecutive failures of the same solid third stage ended PSLV's reputation for near-perfect reliability. Until it flies again, the workhorse's future is under review.
12 Jan 2026 · PSLV · Failure
Near the end of the third-stage burn, chamber pressure dropped again and the rocket veered off course, losing EOS-N1 and 15 co-passenger payloads. It was the first time PSLV had failed twice in a row.
18 May 2025 · PSLV · Failure
A drop in chamber pressure in the solid third stage left the rocket short of orbit, and the EOS-09 radar satellite was lost. ISRO set up a failure-analysis committee.
PSLV set a world record, suffered its first failure in 24 years, bounced back within five months and added two new variants. Its spent fourth stage became a small orbital laboratory.
30 Dec 2024 · PSLV · Success
PSLV placed the two SpaDeX satellites in orbit for India's first docking experiment, and its fourth stage flew as POEM-4 with 24 more experiments on board.
2 Sep 2023 · PSLV · Success
PSLV-XL launched India's first solar observatory into an elongated Earth orbit, from which Aditya-L1 climbed to the Sun–Earth L1 point, 1.5 million km away.
30 Jun 2022 · PSLV · Success
After launching three Singaporean satellites, the fourth stage became POEM — the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module — actively stabilised and hosting six payloads, including two from Indian start-ups. Reusing the spent stage gives start-ups a cheap test-bed in orbit.
1 Apr 2019 · PSLV · Success
The four-strap-on PSLV-QL launched the EMISAT electronic-intelligence satellite and 28 foreign satellites into three different orbits. The fourth stage, now fitted with solar panels, then hosted three experiments of its own.
24 Jan 2019 · PSLV · Success
The new PSLV-DL uses just two strap-ons. After deploying Microsat-R, the spent fourth stage was kept alive as an orbital platform carrying a student-built experiment, Kalamsat-V2.
12 Jan 2018 · PSLV · Success
PSLV returned to flight with Cartosat-2F and 30 co-passenger satellites — ISRO's 100th satellite among them — and released them across two orbits.
Comeback from PSLV-C39.
What went wrong: The heat shield did not separate and IRNSS-1H stayed trapped inside it.
Why: A fault in the fairing separation system meant the shield never opened.
What fixed it: The separation system was examined and checked again; PSLV-C40 flew successfully with 31 satellites.
31 Aug 2017 · PSLV · Failure
The payload fairing did not separate, so the IRNSS-1H navigation satellite was trapped inside and the extra weight kept the stage from reaching its planned orbit. It ended a run of 39 consecutive PSLV successes.
15 Feb 2017 · PSLV · Success · World record
PSLV-XL deployed Cartosat-2D and 103 co-passenger satellites in one flight, timing each release so none collided. It held the record for most satellites on one launch until 2021.
ISRO tailored PSLV to each mission: a lighter version without strap-ons for small payloads, and an extended version with longer boosters that could reach the Moon and Mars.
26 Sep 2016 · PSLV · Success
Using the restartable fourth stage, PSLV placed SCATSAT-1 in an orbit of about 720 km, then fired again to release seven other satellites in a lower orbit — the first PSLV to deliver payloads into two different orbits.
16 Dec 2015 · PSLV · Success
After delivering Singapore's TeLEOS-1 and five smaller satellites, PSLV's fourth stage was shut down and re-ignited — the first restart of the stage. Restarts let a single PSLV drop satellites into different orbits.
5 Nov 2013 · PSLV · Success · Launched India's Mars mission
PSLV was not powerful enough to send a spacecraft straight to Mars, so it placed the Mars Orbiter Mission in a long elliptical Earth orbit and the spacecraft raised itself from there. The fourth stage coasted for a record 25 minutes before its final burn to reach the right point in orbit.
22 Oct 2008 · PSLV · Success · First PSLV-XL
The XL variant uses six longer strap-on boosters with 12 tonnes of propellant each. Its first flight sent Chandrayaan-1 on its way to the Moon, carrying India beyond Earth orbit for the first time.
23 Apr 2007 · PSLV · Success
The PSLV-CA ("core alone") flies without any strap-on boosters, making it cheaper for light payloads. Its first flight launched Italy's AGILE gamma-ray observatory — PSLV's first launch for a foreign customer as the main payload.
PSLV was designed to put India's remote-sensing satellites into sun-synchronous orbit without buying launches abroad. After a failed debut it settled into a run of successes and quietly opened a commercial business.
12 Sep 2002 · PSLV · Success
PSLV showed it could do more than polar orbits by placing the METSAT weather satellite, later renamed Kalpana-1, in a geosynchronous transfer orbit — a job normally meant for GSLV.
26 May 1999 · PSLV · Success
Alongside Oceansat-1, PSLV carried South Korea's KITSAT-3 and Germany's DLR-Tubsat — the first time an Indian rocket launched satellites for another country, and the start of PSLV as a commercial launcher.
29 Sep 1997 · PSLV · Partial
The first operational PSLV put IRS-1D into a lower orbit than planned after a shortfall in the final stage. The satellite used its own thrusters to reach a usable orbit and went on to work for years. It is the only partial failure in PSLV's record.
15 Oct 1994 · PSLV · Success
The second developmental flight placed IRS-P2 in sun-synchronous orbit and proved the four-stage design: a solid first stage with six strap-ons, the liquid Vikas-powered second stage, a solid third stage and a small liquid fourth stage.
Comeback from PSLV-D1.
What went wrong: The first PSLV lost attitude control at stage separation and crashed into the sea.
Why: An error in the guidance software's control logic.
What fixed it: The software was corrected and tested far more extensively in simulation; PSLV-D2 reached orbit.
20 Sep 1993 · PSLV · Failure
The first PSLV flew normally until second-stage separation, when an error in the guidance software caused an attitude problem. The rocket and IRS-1E fell into the Bay of Bengal.
PSLV stands for Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. It was designed to launch satellites into polar, sun-synchronous orbits, though it has also launched missions to the Moon, Mars and the Sun–Earth L1 point.
Four. The first and third stages burn solid propellant, and the second and fourth burn liquid propellant. Depending on the variant, up to six solid strap-on boosters are attached to the first stage.
Because it has flown more missions than any other Indian rocket — 64 launches by January 2026 — and launched most of India's Earth-observation, navigation and science satellites, plus hundreds of foreign satellites.
Both flights lost chamber pressure in the solid third stage, which left the rocket without enough thrust to reach orbit. ISRO set up failure-analysis committees; the detailed findings had not been published as of late 2026.
Related: All ISRO Rockets, ISRO Missions Timeline, Next ISRO Launch, ISRO Satellite Tracker.