Tirupati

ISRO Chairman V Narayanan on Saturday offered prayers at the Tirupati temple ahead of the upcoming launch of the PSLV-C62 mission, which is set to place the EOS-N1 Earth Observation Satellite and multiple co-passenger payloads into orbit.

Senior officials from the Indian Space Research Organisation accompanied Narayanan during the temple visit. A miniature model of the PSLV launch vehicle was also presented as part of the prayers.

Speaking to the media, Narayanan confirmed that the PSLV-C62 mission is scheduled for launch on January 12. “We are preparing to launch PSLV-C62 carrying the EOS-N1 satellite into a polar sun-synchronous orbit,” he said.

He added that the 25-hour countdown for the mission will begin on January 11. The upcoming launch will mark the 64th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which has so far completed 63 successful missions, including landmark projects such as Chandrayaan-1, the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) and Aditya-L1.

The EOS-N1 satellite, an Earth observation payload developed jointly by Thailand and the United Kingdom, will serve as the primary payload. It will be launched alongside 13 additional co-passenger satellites. All payloads are expected to be deployed into the designated sun-synchronous orbit approximately 17 minutes after lift-off.

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Narayanan noted that this will be ISRO’s first launch of 2026 and said the mission will raise the total number of foreign satellites launched from Indian soil to 442.