Wednesday, 15 February 2017

ISRO sets space record: Sends 104 satellites in one go


15 February 2017

  • India becomes the first country in the world to launch 104 satellites at one go.

  • The PSLV-C37/Cartosat2 Series satellite mission included the primary satellite (Cartosat-2) and 101 international nano satellites. It also launched two of its own nano satellites, INS-1A and INS-1B.

  • It was the PSLV C-37 rocket which put in to orbit a record 104 satellites from seven countries including Israel, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and the US

  • ISRO surpassed its personal best of sending up 20 satellites in one go and beat the record held by Russia in 2014 when it launched 37 satellites in a single mission.

  • The PSLV C-37 carried a 714 kilogram main satellite (Cartosat-2) for earth observation and 103 smaller "nano satellites" which weighed a combined 664 kilograms.In total, the entire launch carried a satellite mass of about 1,378 kg.

  • The mission was from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh

  • This was ISRO’s first space mission for the year 2017 and 39th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)

  • The nano-satellites belonging to international customers were launched through Antrix Corporation Ltd (ANTRIX), the commercial arm of ISRO.