The Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday launched a record 104 satellites in one shot
on board its workhorse rocket system, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV). Flying its 39th mission since it became operational in 1993, the PSLV —
called PSLV-C37 for Wednesday’s mission — delivered into space a payload of
1,378 kg in its 38th consecutive successful flight.
ISRO’s earth observation
Cartosat-2 satellite (714 kg), from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at
Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, and its two “technology demonstration” nano
satellites (INS-1 and 2) were the only Indian payloads on PSLV-C37. The rest
were commercial launches for international customers, through agreements with
ISRO’s commercial arm Antrix Corporation.
Of the 101 foreign satellites
launched by PSLV on Wednesday, 96 are from the US — including 88 from the
start-up, Planet Labs, a San Franciso-based earth imaging company — while one
satellite each is from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, Kazakhstan and the
UAE.
“PSLV-C37 lifted off as planned
at 9:28 am IST. After a flight of 16 minutes 48 seconds, the satellites
achieved a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit of 506 km inclined at an angle of 97.46
degree to the equator (very close to the intended orbit) and in the succeeding
12 minutes, all the 104 satellites successfully separated from the PSLV fourth
stage in a predetermined sequence beginning with Cartosat-2 series satellite,
followed by INS-1 and INS-2,’’ said ISRO in a post-launch statement.
“All 104 satellites were
successfully placed in orbit. My hearty congratulations to the entire ISRO team
for the wonderful job they have done,” said ISRO Chairman A S Kirankumar.
Though the launch involved a
record number of satellites, it did not require any major technological leap on
the part of ISRO. The greatest degree of difficulty in the mission has been
attributed to the synchronous release of the satellite payload from the final
stage of the PSLV rocket.
Earlier, the highest number of
satellites launched on a single mission by ISRO was 20 satellites in June 2016,
on board PSLV C34.
ISRO held the record for most
number of satellites launched in one mission between 2008 and 2013, after
launching 10 satellites in April 2008 on board PSLV C9. This number was overrun
by NASA in November 2013, with the launch of 29 satellites on the Minotaur 1
rocket, and then by the Russian space agency Roscosmos State Corporation’s
DNEPR rocket in November 2013 and June 2014 with the launch of 33 and 37
satellites respectively.
“After separation, the two solar
arrays of the Cartosat-2 series satellite were deployed automatically and
ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore took over
the control of the satellite,’’ said ISRO.
This is the fourth satellite to
be launched in ISRO’s Cartosat-2 series. The satellite will be used for mapping
urban and rural regions, regulation of coastal land use, management of road
networks, water distribution and other several other purposes.
The two ISRO Nano satellites
(INS-1 and 2) are carrying instruments from its Space Applications Centre (SAC)
and Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems (LEOS) for experiments.
With Wednesday’s launch, the PSLV
— ISRO’s medium lift rocket launcher — has put 226 satellites in space,
including 180 foreign satellites and 46 homegrown ones.
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