1 rocket, 104 satellites!
Hello All,
ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organisation www.isro.gov.in and www.google.com/#q=ISRO , has set a world record by placing 104 satellites into orbit at once (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fujsQ5teHJI [launch occurs at 28:08 in this video]) aboard its PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). Launching them into orbit successfully was only half of the PSLV launch team’s worries—getting all of them off the final (fourth) stage and away from each other, and without damaging them, was a huge challenge, but they did it! The vehicle lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR Centre) at Sriharikota at 9:38 AM local time, and injected its payloads into a near-polar, Sun-synchronous orbit. |
Neat stuff. There was just a story on NPR's "Here and Now" about this as well.
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The mission cost US $15 million (quoted here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSLV-C37 [it also says, "ISRO claimed that it would recover half the budget of the mission from the foreign countries whose satellites it would launch. [Note 11]"), so the per-kilogram cost (and the average per-satellite cost) were pretty reasonable for the satellites' owners. PLUS: Here (see: http://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c37-car...-c37-brochure-0 ) is an online flip brochure for the PSLV-C37 mission (it's the one that the guest spectators in the launch control center's viewing area can be seen reading in the various videos of the mission). |
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