ISRO PSLV-C62 launch today — From ‘Anvesha' satellite to KID capsule re-entry to Earth: What to watch out for?

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch its PSLV-C62 / EOS-N1 Mission on Monday, January 12. It will ISRO's first space launch of 2026.

The mission, aboard PSLV, or the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, is proposed to lift off on January 12, 2026, at 10:17 am, from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

PSLV-C62 vehicle will carry EOS-N1 and 15 co-passenger satellites. According to the ISRO, EOS-N1 and 14 Co-passenger satellites will be injected into a Sun Synchronous Orbit and KID Capsule into a re-entry trajectory.

The PSLV has so far completed 63 flights and has launched spacecraft such as Chandrayaan-1, Mangalyaan, Aditya-L1, and Astrosat Mission. In 2017, PSLV set a world record by launching 104 satellites in a single mission, ISRO stated.

Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium Director, BR Guruprasad, told news agency ANI that the January 12 launch will mark the 64th launch of the PSLV.

The PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 mission would initially deploy the Earth Observation Satellite built by Thailand and the United Kingdom, followed by 14 other co-passenger satellites into the sun-synchronous orbit around 17 minutes after lift-off, news agency PTI reported.

The KID (Kestrel Initial Technology Demonstrator) will be the last co-passenger to be injected, after which it is slated to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere towards splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean.

The separation of the fourth stage of the rocket (PS4) and demonstration of KID capsule, weighing about 25 kg, belonging to a Spanish startup, is expected to take place in over 2 hours after the launch.

According to the ISRO, scientists would restart the fourth stage of the rocket to demonstrate the KID capsule to make its re-entry into the earth atmosphere.

For this to occur, the scientists would re-start the fourth stage to de-boost and enter a re-entry trajectory, and this will be followed by the KID capsule separation.

Both the PS4 stage and the KID capsule (which will be the last co-passenger) will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and make a splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean, ISRO said.

It has been designed to provide India with sharper surveillance and terrain classification capabilities.

It's a mini-satellite weighing between 100 and 150 kilograms. It will operate in a low Earth orbit of around 600 kilometres, News 18 reported.

Undertaken by the NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, the 14 other co-passenger satellites belong to domestic and overseas customers.

Earlier, on December 24, the ISRO successfully launched the BlueBird Block-2 communication satellite for the United States' AST SpaceMobile.

The satellite was successfully placed in orbit, and the mission was declared a success.

The launch took place from the Satish Dhawan Space Station in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 8:55 AM IST.

The mission deployed the next-generation communication satellite designed to provide high-speed cellular broadband directly to smartphones worldwide. The BlueBird Block-2 spacecraft would be the heaviest payload to be launched into Low Earth Orbit in the history of the LVM3 rocket.