ISRO's PSLV-C62 mission, which lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in January, carried 16 satellites into a Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit. The flight marked India's first major space mission of 2026 and underlined the country's role as a global launch hub.

At its centre was EOS-N1, also called Anvesha, an Earth observation satellite developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. Its hyperspectral imager captures hundreds of light bands per pixel, supporting agriculture, mineral exploration, urban planning and environmental monitoring.

The mission also carried MOI-1, India's first orbital AI image laboratory, built by Hyderabad startups TakeMe2Space and Eon Space Labs. Using edge computing, which processes data where it is collected, it analyses images in space, and users can rent processing time for two dollars a minute.

Integrated into MOI-1 is MIRA, billed as the world's lightest space telescope at just 502 grams. Carved from a single block of fused silica glass, it forms an 'eye and brain' unit with the AI lab. The flight also tested India's first on-orbit refuelling demonstration with OrbitAID's AayulSAT.

The flight also ferried satellites from Nepal, Spain, Mauritius and Brazil as an international rideshare.