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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