ISRO creates history as PSLV launches 104 satellites in one go 

14 Feb 2017

ISRO creates history as PSLV launches 104 satellites in one go 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday at 9:30 am successfully launched a record 104 satellites into space on a single rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. With the successful launch, India did something no country has done before. 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. Last year, ISRO had set a national record for itself when it had launched 20 satellites in one go. 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. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an enthusiastic supporter of India’s space programme also went on Twitter and congratulated the ISRO for the achievement of such a feat.

Today’s launch will go in hisytory as one of the most successfull space programmes in the history of the free world. Here are 10 facts that one must know about the launch:

1) Of the 104 statelites that go into space, the PSLV-C37 rocket also carries a Cartosat-2 satellite which will be used to produce high-resolution images of the India. This will help in security and warn us against natural disasters.

2) Today’s PSLV-XL rocket launch is ISRO’s 15th space mission. ISRO has a very impressive success arte in terms of space programmes as it hasn’t failed even ince since 2010.

3) The XL version of the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) that was used on Wednesday for the satelite launch is knwn to have a 100% success arate. It had earlier been used in India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) after it had debuted in 2008 in India’s first attempt to raech moon, Chandrayan-I

4) The launch countdown of 28 hours was the shortest in all the PSLV missions so far.

5) Nano statellites, which belong to International customers were launched with the PSLV-XL as a part of the Antrix Corporation Ltd. 5 of these international customers include Isarel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile 2 Indian nano satellites weighing about 1,378 kg were also carried by the rocket.

 

6) With the launch, India moves past Russia in terms of the sheer number of satellites launched by a single rocket. Russia now stands far second with 37 statelites in one single go, which it had achieved in 2014 using a modified inter-continental ballistic missile.

7) This was India’s first space mission of 2017 and the most complicated one yet, considering the sheer number of satelites it carried.

8) This flock of 88 satellites will take Planet’s constellation to 100. They will create the most detailed imagery of the earth’s surface.

9) India had earlier made a national record in June 2016 after it had succesfully rocketed 2o satellites at one go, including 13 from the United States of America.

10) The PSLV-XL carried the Cartosat 2 for earth observattion. It weighed 714 kg. Add the 103 nano statellites into the mix and the entire launch carried by the PSLV-XL had a satellite mass of about 1,378 kg.

India has received widespread recognition for the success of its space programmes such as the Chandrayan and Mission Mars. The ISRO has managed to conjure up some of the most productive missions which have also been cost-effective as compared to our western counterparts.

 

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

 

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, commonly known by its abbreviation PSLV, is an expendable launch system developed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into Sun-synchronous orbits, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV, commercially available only from Russia. PSLV can also launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

 

In 2015 India successfully launched 17 foreign satellites belonging to Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. Some notable payloads launched by PSLV include India's first lunar probe Chandrayaan-1, India's first interplanetary mission, Mangalyaan (Mars orbiter) and India's first space observatory, Astrosat.

 

PSLV was designed and developed in the early 1990s at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The inertial systems are developed by ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) at Thiruvananthapuram. The liquid propulsion stages for the second and fourth stages of PSLV as well as the reaction control systems are developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendragiri near Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. The solid propellant motors are processed at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR)at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh which also carries out launch operations.

 

The PSLV was first launched on 20 September 1993. The first and second stages performed as expected, but an attitude control problem led to the collision of the second and third stages at separation, and the payload failed to reach orbit.[5] After this initial setback, the PSLV successfully completed its second mission in 1994.[6] The fourth launch of PSLV suffered a partial failure in 1997, leaving its payload in a lower than planned orbit. Since then, the PSLV has launched 34 times with no further failures.

 

PSLV continues to support Indian and foreign satellite launches especially for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. It has undergone several improvements with each subsequent version, especially those involving thrust, efficiency as well as weight. In November 2013, it was used to launch the Mars Orbiter Mission, India's first interplanetary probe

 

PSLV-C37

PSLV-C37 is a mission of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle program which carried 104 satellites to the orbit. It was launched on 15 February 2017 by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. PSLV-C37 broke the earlier records of launching 37 satellites by a Russian rocket on June 19, 2014 and of 29 satellites launched by NASA on 19 November 2013.[1] PSLV-C37 launched 104 satellites in a single mission from the ISRO space centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on 15th February 2017 making it the highest number of satellites launched by a single launch vehicle.

 

Payload and other parameters

The rocket launched 104 satellites of which three are Indian, 88 are from the USA and the rest from Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.[1]

 

The three Indian satellites launched are Cartosat-2D, INS-1A and INS-1B. Cartosat-2D weigh approximately 650 kilograms (1,430 lb) and INS-1A and INS-1B weigh approximately 15 kilograms (33 lb) each. The other foreign satellites contributed to approximately 820 kilograms (1,810 lb) making the total payload of approximately 1,500 kilograms (3,300 lb). The total launch mass of the rocket would be around 320,000 kilograms (710,000 lb).

 

The 88 satellites of the USA CubeSats weigh around 5 kilograms (11 lb) each separated from the rocket in different directions to avoid collision.

 

The PSLV-C37 used the rocket engine nozzle manufactured by Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh based company Resins and Allied Productions (RAP). This is the 100th nozzle manufactured by RAP being used in a PSLV.

ISRO claimed that it would recover half the budget of the mission from the foreign countries whose satellites it would launch.

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