ISRO has commenced the countdown for the launch of a state-of-the-art Earth observation spacecraft, which will be India's first-ever imaging satellite placed in geosynchronous orbit, official sources confirmed.
The 27-hour countdown began at 23.30 hours on Wednesday, September 2, for the GSLV-F17/EOS-05 mission. The 51.7-metre-tall rocket is set to lift off at 2.55 AM on September 4 from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, located about 135 km from Chennai.
The pre-dawn Friday launch follows a gap of nearly eight months since ISRO's last mission.
On January 12 this year, ISRO's PSLV-C62 rocket, which was carrying 16 satellites, failed to place them in the intended orbit after encountering an anomaly in the critical third stage of the launch. That was ISRO's only launch of the year, and it did not succeed.
A similar setback had also occurred in May 2025, when the PSLV-C61-EOS-09 mission did not succeed due to a motor pressure issue, with a recorded drop in the chamber pressure of the motor case.
Against this backdrop, the GSLV-F17/EOS-05 mission carries considerable significance, as it marks India's first attempt to deploy an Earth observation satellite from geosynchronous orbit, a capability that could substantially expand the country's remote sensing reach.
