Indian space agency ISRO today launched a record 20 satellites into space from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.
The launch happened at 9.26 am and successfully completed all its stages within 26 minutes, at a cost that is reportedly about 10 times less than other space agencies.
Here are 9 facts about the launch.
- This was first time that such a large number of satellites were launched by ISRO into orbit at the same time. The space agency’s previous record was 10 satellites in June 2008.
- The world record for the largest-ever launch is held by Russia, whose Dnepr rocket put 37 satellites into orbit in 2014.
- The 320-tonne PSLV C-34 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) is carrying 17 foreign small satellites from Canada, Indonesia, Germany and the US.
- It also has two satellites—Sathyabhamasat and Swayam—made by Indian universities.
- The total weight of all the satellites is 1,288 kg.
- The most important, and heaviest passenger at 727.5 kg, is an earth observational spacecraft from India’s Cartosat-2 series, which will be deployed at an orbit height of 505 km.
- Of the 13 US-made small satellites that were launched today, one belongs to Terra Bella, a Google-owned company. The 110-kg Google satellite, called SkySat Gen- 2, is capable of taking sub-meter resolution images and high definition video.
- The other four foreign satellites are LAPAN-A3 from Indonesia, BIROS from Germany, and M3MSat and GHDSat-D from Canada.
- Till now, ISRO has launched 57 satellites for foreign vendors from about 20 countries since May 1999, earning about $100 million from these.