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| An Indian rocket blasted off Wednesday morning from Sriharikota in eastern India putting a record 104 satellites into space in a single launch, surpassing Russia’s previous feat of launching 37 satellites one year ago, according to India’s space agency. |
Besides a 714 kilogram earth observation satellite, the others were mostly nano satellites those weighing up to 10 kilograms. A majority of these small satellites came from customers in the United States, others from countries such as Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
Calling it a “great moment” for the Indian Space Research Organization, Associate Project Director B Jayakumar said, “as you know doing something new in an innovative way, successfully is always a passion for ISRO people.”
Low-cost program
India’s space program has focused heavily on low-cost access to space. The ability to put a larger number of satellites in space in a single launch brings down the cost significantly, which could help the country grab a larger slice of the commercial launch market, analysts say.
“Doing record-breaking launches in one go does clearly highlight India’s advancement as well as the sophistication to do a lot more maneuvering in India’s space program,” said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, a space analyst from New Delhi’s Observer Research Foundation.
Pointing out that it will inspire more confidence in India’s space program, she said “A lot many more countries could be approaching India to do their own space launches.”
The growing demand for more high-tech communication by countries, as well as by private telephone, Internet and other companies, has hugely boosted the demand for such launches. Last year, India launched 75 satellites for foreign customers.
India increased the budget for its space program this year and allocated resources for a potential second mission to Mars and its first to Venus in the coming years.