The Indian Space Research Organisation is gearing up for a historic launch of the world’s highest number of satellites in its class in a single mission on Wednesday, for which the countdown is expected to begin late in the night today. One hundred and four satellites are set to be put into space by the ISRO’s launch vehicle PSLV-C37 that would lift off from Sriharikotta at 9.28 hrs in the morning on coming 15th. The full capacity of the launch vehicle PSLV is being utilized in Wednesday’s launch.
The payloads include India’s Cartosat-2 Series satellite weighing 714 kilogram, which is meant for earth observation. It has a sharp resolution to provide quality earth images to its customers. It will be joined by 103 other payloads, all weighing together 664 kg. They are to be injected in a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit. Apart from Cartosat-2 Series satellite, two other nano-satellites are from India and all the remaining 101 nano-satellites are from foreign customers including 96 from the US and one each from Israel, Kazakhstan, the Nederland, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
The last count of the highest number of satellites launched in a single mission is 37 by Russia in 2014. This is the first time the count exceeds a hundred.