ISRO launches 104 satellites in one go

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully launched a record 104 satellites into space on a single rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
• Its launch of 104 satellites from a single rocket was a world record most satellites launched at the same time from a single rocket.
• The country that comes second to us in this aspect is Russia, who is far behind with a maximum of 37 satellite launches from a single rocket.
• It is using the same rocket this time — the XL version of the popular Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), to push the boundaries of efficiency and effectiveness in space launches.

Main highlights:

• India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its thirty ninth flight (PSLV-C37), launches the 714 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation and 103 co-passenger satellites together weighing about 663 kg at lift-off into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).
• PSLV-C37 was launched from the First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.
• This was the sixteenth flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with the use of solid strap-on motors).
• The co-passenger satellites comprised of 101 nano satellites, one each from Kazakhstan, Israel, The Netherlands, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 96 from United States of America (USA), as well as two Nano satellites from India. The total weight of all these satellites carried on-board PSLV-C37 was about 1377 kg.
• The 101 International customer Nano satellites were launched as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), a Government of India company under Department of Space (DOS), the commercial arm of ISRO and the International customers.
• PSLV-C37 also carried two ISRO Nano satellites (INS-1A and INS-1B), as co-passenger satellites. These two satellites carry a total of four different payloads from Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems (LEOS) of ISRO for conducting various experiments.

About PSLV:

• PSLV is a four-staged launch vehicle with first and third stage using solid rocket motors and second and fourth stages using liquid rocket engines.
• It also uses strap-on motors to augment the thrust provided by the first stage, and depending on the number of these strap-on boosters, the PSLV is classified into its various versions like core-alone version (PSLV-CA), PSLV-G or PSLV-XL variants.

By: Vishal