India has become one of the first picks for launching satellites. As a result, PSLV C-34 is launching 20 satellites of different countries.
The countdown has started for launching the satellites of 17 countries across the globe by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in short called as PSLV. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch PSLV C-34 carrying 20 satellites from its Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) in Sriharikota of Andhra Pradesh state on Wednesday.
The countdown which started on Monday at 9.26 A.M will continue for 48 hrs till the vehicle’s launch. ISRO Cheif along with other departmental heads are present at the spot and looking at the countdown timer. As this is the highest number of Satellites carrying, it can be treated as a record for ISRO. This is the 36th launch for PSLV.
Also, Read : ISRO launched GSAT-15 Communication Satellite
The launching satellites include 13 from the USA. Amongst those 13, one is Google’s SkySat Gen-2, developed by Terra Bella. It weighs about 110 kgs and capable of taking images with high definition video and sub-meter resolution. Indian earth observation satellite CartoSat is the main passenger weighing 727 kgs which can take images at sub-meter resolution. Apart from these other main satellites are Indonesia’s LAPAN A3 satellite and Germany’s BIROS and MVV (microsatellite). Total weight of the C-34 vehicle carrying satellites is 1,288 kgs. Till now, PSLV has placed 57 foreign satellites and 20 Indian satellites.
On April 28th, 2008 ISRO holds the record of placing 10 satellites with a single launch. This was overtaken by American Minotaur-1 rocket which placed 29 satellites in a single launch. Russian’s DNEPR rocket holds the record of placing highest number of satellites in one launch. It placed 33 satellites at a time in space.