PSLV-C37 Launches 104 Satellites in One Flight, Sets New Record

In its 39th flight PSLV-C37, ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully launched the 714 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite and 103 other satellites on Wednesday morning, February 15, 2017, at 9:28 am from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

This is the 38th consecutively successful mission of PSLV, which weighed 1,378 kg, that lifted off from the First Launch Pad.

Within 16 minutes 48 seconds, the satellites achieved a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit of 506 km inclined at an angle of 97.46 degree to the equator and in the succeeding 12 minutes, all the 104 satellites successfully separated from the PSLV.

In a predetermined sequence Cartosat-2 followed by INS-1 and INS-2 separated, making the total number of Indian satellites launched by PSLV to 46.

The two arrays of Cartosat-2 series satellite were deployed and ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore took over the control of it. Next, the satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration following which it will begin to provide remote sensing services using its panchromatic (black and white) and multispectral (colour) cameras.

The imagery from the Cartosat-2 series satellite will be useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications.

The data sets will be useful for urban planning of 500 cities under the Amrut Planning Scheme. The government initiative of 100 smart city programme in which these data sets could be used for master plan preparation.

Of the 103 co-passenger satellites carried by PSLV-C37, two – ISRO Nano Satellite-1 (INS-1) weighing 8.4 kg and INS-2 weighing 9.7 kg – are technology demonstration satellites from India.

The remaining 101 co-passenger satellites carried were international customer satellites from USA (96), The Netherlands (1), Switzerland (1), Israel (1), Kazakhstan (1) and UAE (1).

The complex mission involved many technical challenges like realising the launch of a large number of satellites during a single mission within the time frame sought by the customers from abroad. With today’s successful launch, the total number of foreign satellites on PSLV has reached 180.