India Launches 104 Satellites In One Record-Breaking Launch

Yesterday, Feburary 15th 2017 (In India, still the 14th here in the States), The Indian Space Research Agency (ISRO) successfully launched 104 satellites using one booster as part of their PSLV-C37 mission.

The mission was launched into a polar orbit, with the primary payload being the CartoSat-2D Earth observation satellite. 103 micro-satellites, 3 of which are Indian, 96 are American, with the rest being from other European and Asian nations. The the main payload, CartoSat-2D weighs 714 kilograms, with the remaining 1500kg payload weight made up of the American CubeSats and other micro-satellites of the launch.

This is quite an accomplishment. While the weight of the launch is no issue (it was a perfectly normal mass for  the PSLV booster to launch) the complexities of successfully deploying 104 separate objects, each one requiring it’s own separation system and supporting connections, is nothing to snuff at. They may be small cubesats and the like, but it still takes solid engineering to get them into their particular orbits properly.

Nothing much else to say, so I figure I’ll do the usual and share the launch footage. Enjoy!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSLV-C37

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