Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the 714 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite along with 103 co-passenger satellites on board ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C37, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota last Wednesday morning..
It is the highest number of satellites launched in one single mission anywhere. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the space scientific community and the nation for this proud feat.
This is the thirty eighth consecutive successful mission of PSLV. All the 104 satellites were successfully separated from the PSLV fourth stage in a predetermined sequence. The total number of Indian satellites launched by PSLV now stands at 46.
The imagery from the Cartosat-2 series satellite will be useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution, change detection to bring out geographical and manmade features and various other Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications. The data sets could be used for urban planning of 500 cities under the Amrut Planning Scheme. ISRO Nano Satellites, INS-1 and INS-2, were also launched.
In addition, 101 foreign nano satellites from six countries were launched in a significant international dimension. Of these, 96 were from the United States, and 1 each from Israel, Kazakhstan, UAE, the Netherlands and Switzerland. With today’s successful launch, the total number of customer satellites from abroad launched by India’s PSLV has reached 180.
This mission involved many technical challenges such as realising the launch of a large number of satellites during a single mission within stipulated time frame. Besides, ensuring adequate separation between all the 104 satellites during their orbital injection as well as during their subsequent orbital life was yet another complexity associated with this mission. With this launch, ISRO has further bolstered its impeccable scientific credentials as a reliable partner for space initiatives.
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