India puts record 104 satellites into orbit

Indian onlookers watch the launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C37) at Sriharikota on Febuary 15, 2017.

India successfully put a record 104 satellites from a single rocket into orbit on Wednesday in the latest triumph for its famously frugal space programme. Celebrations erupted among scientists at the southern spaceport of Sriharikota as the head of India’s Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced all the satellites had been ejected as planned.

The rocket took off at 9:28am (0358 GMT) and cruised at a speed of 27,000km (16,777 miles) per hour, ejecting all the 104 satellites into orbit in around 30 minutes, according to ISRO.

The rocket’s main cargo was a 714kg satellite for Earth observation but it was also loaded with 103 smaller “nano satellites,” weighing a combined 664kg. The smallest weighed only 1.1kg.

Nearly all of the nano satellites are from other countries, including Israel, Kazakhstan, Switzerland and 96 from the United States.

Around 90 of the satellites are from a San Francisco-based company, Planet Inc each weighing around 4.5kg that will send Earth images from space.

Only three satellites belonged to India.

World record

Scientists sat transfixed as they watched the progress of the rocket on monitors until the last payload was ejected, and then began punching the air in triumph and hugging each other.

This was PSLV’s 39th successful mission, known as India’s space workhorse. In 2015, it carried 23 satellites to space.

The launch means India now holds the record for launching the most satellites in one go, surpassing Russia which launched 39 satellites in a single mission in June 2014.

And it is another feather in the cap for ISRO which sent an unmanned rocket to orbit Mars in 2013 at a cost of just US$73 million, compared with Nasa’s Maven Mars mission which had a US$671 million price tag.

ISRO is also mulling the idea of missions to Jupiter and Venus.

The business of putting commercial satellites into space for a fee is growing as phone, Internet and other companies, as well as countries, seek greater and more hi-tech communications.

India has carved out a reputation as a reliable low-cost option, relying in part on its famed skill of jugaad – creating a cheap alternative solution.

Experts say much of its credibility stems from India’s successful launch of the Mars orbiter, which gave it an edge over its rivals in the space race.

Last June, India set a national record after it successfully launched a rocket carrying 20 satellites, including 13 from the US.

Modi has often hailed India’s budget space technology, quipping in 2014 that a rocket that launched four foreign satellites into orbit had cost less to make than Hollywood film Gravity.

Asia Times