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Isro puts 20 satellites in space, betters its own launch record
NEW DELHI: Setting a new benchmark in its space programme, India on Wednesday successfully launched 20 satellites, in a single mission on board Isro’s (Indian Space
NEW DELHI: Setting a new benchmark in its space programme, India on Wednesday successfully launched 20 satellites, in a single mission on board Isro’s (Indian Space Research Organisation) workhorse PSLV-C34 from the spaceport in Sriharikota.
In 2008, Isro had sent 10 satellites into orbit in a single mission
The launch cements India’s status as a destination for cost-effective satellite launch missions.
Of the 20 satellites carried by the PSLV C-34 rocket, India’s 725.5 kgs Cartosat-2 Earth observation satellite was the main payload. The other 19 consisted of two from educational institutions in India, 13 from the US, two from Canada and one each from Germany and Indonesia.
Foreign satellite launches are crucial for Isro as the market is projected to run into billions of dollars by 2017. At the moment India sits on the margins because it only has the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which can primarily be used for low-weight satellites. The combined weight of the 20 satellites on Wednesday’s launch was about 1,288 kg.
Isro’s focus should now be on a using Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (GSLVs), which can launch heavier satellites in the range of 5,000 kg. For cost-effective successful launches, Isro needs to further perfect the cryogenic engine technology. Once that is achieved, India can compete with world leaders like the US and Europe.
Since the 1990s India has launched close to 80 satellites, of which more than 50 are foreign ones.
With the success of Wednesday’s mission, India has successfully launched 74 satellites for international customers. If close to 20 countries have signed up for launching satellites from India (including US), it is because launches here are close to 60% cheaper than in other countries.
As India shifts from PSLVs t o GSLVs with indigenous cryogenic engines, Isro will move into the prestigious club of heavy lifters. In that sense, Wednesday’s launch is a sign that India’s space programme is on the right trajectory.
(With agency inputs)
