THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh’s recent statement ruling out sabotage in the failure of ISRO’s PSLV rocket was based on a report submitted by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval following his visit to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) here, it is reliably learnt.
Doval’s top secret visit, reportedly on January 22, was undertaken on the directives of the prime minister. “The NSA visited VSSC as the snag was related to the launch vehicle, which is designed and developed at the facility,” a senior VSSC official said.
During the visit that was kept strictly off-camera, the NSA is learnt to have inquired about various technical aspects of the launch vehicle in detail, reportedly to explore the sabotage angle,” the official said.
ISRO suffered a major setback on January 12 when its workhorse PSLV, carrying an Earth observation satellite along with several commercial payloads, encountered an anomaly during the third stage of the flight.
The failure bore similarities to the PSLV (C-61) mission on May 18, 2025, when the third stage failed to ignite, destroying a satellite intended for the government’s strategic needs.