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ISRO sets world record by launching 104 satellites in one go

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Marking the credibility of India’s space technology, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) made history today by successfully launching 104 satellites on a single rocket from the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.

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The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C37, standing 44.4 metre tall and weighing 320 ton, took off in the morning, at 9.28 am today, from Sriharikota space centre with the 104 satellites. Among the 104 satellites, three satellites belonged to India, 96 belonged to the United States and rest five of from ISRO’s International customers including Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates.

The two Indian satellites named INS-1A and INS-1B were developed as co-passenger satellites to assist larger satellites on PSLV. They will provide an opportunity for ISRO to demonstrate their payload technology. Nearly 90 small satellites named 'Doves' belong to one San Francisco-based company, Planet Inc. The Dove constellation will be used to image the earth at low cost.

ISRO separated all the satellites in stages — in different directions and at different relative velocities.

The first to be let off was India's high-resolution Cartosat-2 series satellite, designed to monitor activities of Pakistan and China at a resolution of less than a metre.

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"This is a significant step for India. This entire launch will last for 28 minutes...It is a four stage mission. The first satellite will go in the 17th minute followed soon by two nano satellites by India. Later 96 satellites will be placed in their orbits," said Ajay Lele of ISRO.



India is the first country to launch 104 satellites on a single rocket. The previous record holder was Russia that launched 37 satellites in one go in 2014 using a modified inter-continental ballistic missile.