India successfully put into orbit a record 104 satellite
NEW DELHI, 15 Feb — RIA Novosti. The Indian rocket PSLV-C37 on Wednesday successfully put into orbit a record 104 of the satellite, according to Indian space research organization (ISRO).
@isro ISRO I urge to continue to strive for the progress of our space capabilities. Congratulations ISRO! pic.twitter.com/YwwEb3MMOy
— sachin tendulkar (@Sachin_rt_10) February 15, 2017
The launch was broadcast live by local media. The missile was launched according to plan in local time 09.28 (06.58 MSK). 17 minutes after the flight began the withdrawal satellites into orbit, which was held in several stages. The entire mission lasted almost half an hour.
“The mission was completed successfully,” — said in the mission control Center by intercom.
President ISRO Kiran Kumar confirmed the successful completion of the mission. “PSLV-C37 successfully put into orbit, all the satellite 104. I congratulate the entire ISRO team for this achievement”, — he said at a press conference after the launch.
Prime Minister Narendra modi congratulated Indian scientists on the successful launch. “This is a remarkable achievement of ISRO is another reason for pride for our space science community and the nation. India salutes our scientists,” wrote modi in his microblog on Twitter.
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
This launch was a record for the world’s space industry by the number of satellites launched simultaneously.
Record this indicator belongs to Russia — 37 satellites in 2014. The US launched 30 satellites at the same time
The latest achievement of India in this area dated June 22, 2016, when ISRO has successfully put into orbit 20 satellites.
The main cargo was an Indian Cartosat-2 satellite, which weighs about 714 pounds and is designed to monitor the Earth’s surface. Cartosat-2 was separated from the rocket first, after 17.5 minutes of flight and was put on heliosynchronous orbit at an altitude of about 505 miles. He became the fourth Indian satellites in this series launched into orbit. The service life of this type of satellites is five years.
The remaining 103 satellites are nanosatellites (1-10 kilograms), of which only two Indian — INS and the INS 1A-1B. The vast majority of satellites, 88, owned by the same company — American private company, Planet Labs, based in San Francisco. Her companions called Dove (4.7 kg each), designed to capture the surface of the Earth.
Another American firm — Spire Global is launched using Indian launch of eight nano-satellites Lemur, is designed to track the movement of ships. One nanosatellite belong to Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland, UAE. The total weight of all the satellites amounted to 1378 pounds.