New Delhi, 15 February 2017/Team Estrade//– Today was another proud moment for India as the Indian Space Research Agency this morning successfully launched a record 104 satellites on a single rocket from the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee congratulated the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the successful launch into space of PSLV – C37, carrying a record 104 satellites.
In a message to Shri A.S. Kiran Kumar, Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO, the President said, “I extend my sincere congratulations and best wishes to you and your team at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on the successful launch into space of PSLV – C37, carrying a record 104 satellites. This day shall go down as a landmark in the history of our space programme.The nation is proud of this significant achievement, which has demonstrated, yet again, India’s increasing space capabilities. Kindly convey my greetings to the members of your team of scientists, engineers, technologists and all others associated with this great mission. I urge ISRO to continue to strive for the progress of our space capabilities. I wish all your future endeavours great success.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed scientists for the successful launch of 104 satellites on board a single rocket from the spaceport of Sriharikota.
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, launched the 714 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation and 103 co-passenger satellites together weighing about 664 kg at lift-off into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). PSLV-C37 launched from the First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. It was the sixteenth flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration (with the use of solid strap-on motors).
The co-passenger satellites comprised of 101 nano satellites, one each from Israel, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 96 from United States of America (USA), as well as two Nano satellites from India. The total weight of all the satellites carried on board PSLV-C37 is about 1378 kg. PSLV-C37 also carried two ISRO Nano satellites (INS-1A and INS-1B), as co-passenger satellites. These two satellites carried a total of four different payloads from Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems (LEOS) of ISRO for conducting various experiments.
The 101 International customer Nano satellites were launched as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), a Government of India company under Department of Space (DOS), the commercial arm of ISRO and the International customers.
