And the Indian space agency has done it once again! ISRO is on a mission to prove that you don’t require a full load of money to successfully launch satellites, and it has done just that. It has now come to become recognized as an achiever of extraordinary feats. Today, ISRO is now etching its name in historical records with the launch of a record 104 satellites from seven countries in a single mission. This is a moment of national pride.
At 9:28 a.m, the PSLV-C37/Cartosat2 Series satellite mission successfully lifted off from the spaceport of Sriharikota this morning. The lift off has been normal as expected, and the same has been confirmed through an official tweet. The spacecraft’s been flying through the skies for nearly 27 minutes, it has deployed all the 103 nanosatellites aboard and connection with them has been successfully established.
PSLV-C37 / Cartosat-2 series Mission Lift off Normal as expected.
— ISRO (@isro) February 15, 2017
The Prime Minister has also tweeted out his hearty congratulations to the Indian Space Agency for achieving this remarkable feat. The tweet reads as under:
This remarkable feat by @isro is yet another proud moment for our space scientific community and the nation. India salutes our scientists.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 15, 2017
For those unaware, the PSLV C-37 mission isn’t much different from any previous missions. Each satellite aboard the spacecraft is a micro-small satellite, with 100 of those being of foreign agencies and three being Indian. The mass of the payload is about 1,350 kg, which is well within the capability of the PSLV. ISRO worked around the clock to successfully complete their toughest mission, which required them to figure out a method to scatter all 104 satellites without having them collide with each other. They separated all the satellites in stages — in different directions and at different relative velocities.
Among the 104 co-passenger satellites, two of them belong to India. These satellites christened as INS-1A and INS-1B were developed as co-passenger satellites to assist larger satellites on PSLV. They will provide an opportunity for ISRO to demonstrate their payload technology. Out of other 101 satellites, 96 belong to the United States whereas five of them credit to International customers of ISRO including Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates.
Prior to this, Russian Space Agency has been successful in launching 37 satellites in one go. It’s a very great moment for everyone of us. The PSLV-C37/Cartosat2 Series satellite mission is another example of ISRO’s innovation. The said mission was the 38th consecutive successful mission for ISRO, which another major feat for the space agency. Thus, the space agency is now joining the big boys of space exploration.
1 comment