ISRO SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES RECORD 104 SATELLITES IN SINGLE MISSION
Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO ) created history by successfully launching a record 104 satellites in a single mission . These satellites were launched on board of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C37 , on its 39th mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre , Sriharikota , Andhra Pradesh .’
KEY FACTS
• Of the total 104 satellites , three were Indian and remaining 101 belonged to international customers .
• India ’ s three satellites are earth-mapping Cartosat- 2 satellite ( main payload ) and nanosatellites INS- 1A and INS-1B .
• Foreign Satellites : Of the 101 co-passenger satellites , 96 belong to US and remaining 5 from Israel , Kazakhstan , Netherlands , Switzerland , United Arab Emirates , respectively .
• Around 90 small satellites belonged to US-based Company Planet Inc . They are named ‘ Doves ’ and their constellation will be used to image the earth at low cost .
• Launch Process : In this mission , PSLV first launched the Cartosat-2 and then its 103 co-passengers ( together weighing about 664 kg ) into the polar Sun Synchronous Orbit ( SSO ), about 520 km from the Earth .
• Cartosat-2 Satellite : It was the primary payload of the mission . It is similar to the earlier four satellites in Cartosat-2 Series . It weighs 714 kg and has a mission life of five years .
• It is an earth observation satellite that will provide remote sensing services . Images sent by it will be useful for coastal land use and regulation , road network monitoring and creation of land use maps , among others .
• INS-1A and INS-1B Satellites : They are nanosatellites . INS-1A was carrying Surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function Radiometer and INS-1B was carrying Earth Exosphere Lyman Alpha Analyser as payloads .
• Launch Vehicle : For this mission , ISRO had used XL Variant of PSLV rocket standing 44.4 metres tall and weighing 320 tonnes .
• It is most powerful rocket of ISRO and earlier was used in launching ambitious Chandrayaan and Mars Orbiter Mission ( MOM ).
• Records Broken : This mission beat the previous record held by Russia , which in 2014 had catapulted 37 satellites in a single launch , using a modified inter-continental ballistic missile .
• It also broke ISRO ’ s previous national record set in June 2016 , after it had successfully launched 20 satellites , including 13 from the US in single mission .
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