India puts record 104 satellites into orbit in one go
2017-02-16
SRIHARIKOTA (India): 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 that all the satellites had been ejected as planned.
`My hearty congratulations to the ISRO team for this success,` the agency`s director, Kiran Kumar, told those gathered in an observatory to track the progress of the Polar Satellite LaunchVehicle (PSLV).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists for achieving the feat which smashed a record previously held by Russia.
`They have hit a century in space technology,` Modi said at an election rally in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
The rocket took off at 9:28am and cruised at a speed of 27,000 kilometres 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 `nanoVehicle (PSLV).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists for achieving the feat which smashed a record previously held by Russia.
`They have hit a century in space technology,` Modi said at an election rally in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
The rocket took off at 9:28am and cruised at a speed of 27,000 kilometres 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 `nanosatellites`, 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.
Eighty-eight of them are from Planet Inc a San Francisco-based Earth imagery company and weigh 4.5kg each. Only three satellites belonged to India.
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.-AFP
