ISRO Launches Record 104 Satellites Into Orbit On A Single Launch Vehicle

The Launch Vehicle carries satellites from seven countries when it took off 9:28 a.m. from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh

Outlook Web Bureau

Updated on: 15 February 2017 11:26 am

Indian space agency, ISRO, successfully launched a record 104 satellites into orbit aboard its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C-37.

The Launch Vehicle carries nanosatellites from seven countries when it took off9:28 a.m. from Sriharikota. These include 88 from San Francisco-based Planet Labs Inc. as well as others built by companies and universities in Israel, Kazakhstan, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, reported news agency Bloomberg.

"India's launch of 104 satellites in one go is a remarkable achievement. India is breaking the previous world record of Russia launching 37 satellites in one go. This puts India in the big league showcasing India's technological advancements as well as the sophistication of India's space programme," said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, the head of Nuclear and Space Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation.

The 104 satellites will be used to map the Earth, track ships to monitor illegal fishing and piracy, as well as conduct microgravity experiments without making an expensive trip out to the International Space Station."

The main satellite on the vehicle is the Earth-mapping CartoSat 2 series satellite, which weighs 714 kg, and the lightest is Nayif weighing just 1.1 kilograms.

India put 20 in orbit in 2016, until now its biggest ever single launch. There were 208 satellites launched in 2014, almost double the amount the year before.

" Globally speaking, small satellites are the future and many are breaking their bigger satellite constellations into smaller ones - micro, mini and nano satellites. India stands to benefit from this trend given India's strength to undertake launches of these," said Rajagopalan.

"India lacks launch vehicles for heavier satellites-- we rely on the French to do our heavy satellites."

All 104 satellites were placed in a polar sun synchronous orbit in a staggered fashion in 28 minutes.

But why do rockets need to be packed with so many satellites?

"With an ever-increasing number of space-based applications, the demand for satellites is growing rapidly. The number of rocket launches, however, have remained limited. Additionally, it makes sense to pack more on a single rocket because of cost considerations," reported The Indian Express.

ISRO has so far launched 226 satellites, and of that 179 were from foreign countries.