ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) is all set to put a total of 104 satellites into orbit on its PSLV-C37 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket on February 15, 2017. The launch from Sriharikota spaceport located in Andhra Pradesh at about 9am will make history as no space agency has done this before. To recall, Russia’s Dnepr (Launch Vehicle) launched 37 satellites back in 2014 while the U.S. Space Agency NASA had launched a total of 29 satellites in one go in 2013.
Also Read: ISRO successfully placed 104 satellites into orbit in one go; sets world record
ISRO had launched 20 satellites on a single rocket back in June last year which was also the highest number of satellites that the India-based space agency has launched yet.
The mission will include 101 foreign land satellites while remaining three belongs to India. More specifically, 88 satellites are from United States booked by U.S. Earth Imaging company called Planet while the remaining satellites belongs to Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland and the UAE (United Arab Emirates).
The three Indian satellites include a remote-sensing Cartosat-2 series satellite and two INS-1 satellites (INS-1A and INS-1B). The remote-sensing satellite will be the fourth in the CARTOSAT-2 series that weighs 650kg. It’s a very high resolution earth observation satellite which will take almost half the space of PSLV-C37 rocket. The other two satellites i.e. INS-1A and INS-1B weighs 20kg combined and have a short lifespan of 6 to 12 months.
The 88 “cubesats” are called Doves (collectively known as Flock 3p) and weighs 5kg each. These 88 cubesats are part of company’s earth observation “line scanner” constellation of 100 satellites. ISRO had launched the remaining 12 cubesats called Doves last year in June. It’s also the highest number of cubesats for the US-based company to be launched in a single launch.
The 320-tonne PSLV-C37 rocket will release the satellites separately at around 500km above the earth surface into the Sun-synchronous orbit. According to an ISRO official, the payloads weigh around 1,500kg combined.
“In February, we are launching 88 satellites — the largest fleet of satellites launched in history,” said Planet’s executive Mike Safyan. “This is the 15th time Planet is launching Dove satellites; and it will be our biggest launch to date.”
