The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch the GISAT-1A satellite in September, in a mission that will be watched closely for many important reasons. In this time, important satellites were parked on the launchpad waiting for the clearance. Since the two successive PSLV mission failures, in 2025 and early 2026, ISRO had paused launches as it investigated the reason why its workhorse rocket had suffered such an uncharacteristic setback.
What happened to GISAT-1?
Earth-observation satellites typically operate in low-earth orbit and pass over a given location on the ground a few times every day. To provide more continuous observations, ISRO had built GISAT to watch the Indian subcontinent from a greater distance, thus keeping almost the entire landmass in its view for large parts of the day. Because of a gap in its space-based earth-observation assets, aside from the rocket itself, India was looking forward to the GISAT-1 mission.
