Two consecutive failures of PSLV raise questions not merely about technology but about ISRO's institutional quality culture. Discuss.

The PSLV, ISRO's "workhorse" with only three failures in its first sixty-odd flights, lost EOS-09 (May 2025) and EOS-N1 (January 2026) to third-stage anomalies [1][2]. It is the recurrence, not the failure itself, that shifts scrutiny from hardware to institutional processes.

The technological reading

• Both anomalies localised in PS3: a chamber-pressure fall in C61 [3], and an elevated roll-rate disturbance with flight-path deviation near the end of PS3 burn in C62, confirmed by Chairman V. Narayanan [2].
• PS3 is a solid motor [4] — once ignited it cannot be throttled or shut down, so pre-launch non-destructive evaluation and quality control are the only intervention points.
• Repetition in the same stage points to a batch-level casting or casing defect, or a design vulnerability, rather than random chance.

Why the questions run deeper

• A Failure Analysis Committee was constituted after C61 [3], yet a PS3-linked anomaly recurred within eight months — implying either misdiagnosis of the root cause or incomplete implementation of corrective action.
• The C61 findings were not publicly released even in redacted form, weakening the accountability norm expected of a publicly funded agency.
• Launch cadence pressure under the liberalised Indian Space Policy 2023 [5], with PSLV productionisation and rising commercial commitments through NSIL [6], can compress quality-assurance timelines.

The other side of the ledger

• PSLV's cumulative reliability, four-stage design maturity and institutionalised FAC mechanism remain genuine strengths [4].
• NSIL's expanding customer base and revenue show India's launch credibility is dented, not lost [6].

Consecutive failures therefore expose a systems-assurance gap more than an engineering incapacity. A time-bound, externally reviewed FAC with published redacted findings, strengthened independent quality audit of solid-motor production, and cadence calibrated to assurance capacity would rebuild confidence. Sustaining PSLV's reliability is essential to India's Space Policy 2023 ambition of becoming a trusted global launch provider.