ISRO Eyes World Record With Launch Of 83 Satellites On a Single Rocket
- Indian space agency ISRO is aiming for a world record by putting into orbit 83 satellites two Indian and 81 foreign on a single rocket in early 2017.
- The company’s order book stands at Rs 500 crore while negotiations are on for launch order for another Rs 500 crore.
- During the first quarter of 2017 ISRO plans to launch a single rocket carrying 83 satellites out of which most foreign satellites are nano satellites.
- Antrix Corporation is the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- 83 satellites will be put in a single orbit and hence there will not be any switching off and on of the rocket.
- The major challenge for the proposed mission is to hold the rocket in the same orbit till all the satellites are ejected.
- ISRO will use its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle XL (PSLV-XL) rocket variant for the record launch (For ISRO,lanching of multiple satellites at one go isnot a new thing, they have done it several times earlier).
- The total payload/weight carried off into space by the PSLV-XL rocket will be around 1,600 kg.
- Also, ISRO is conducting high-altitude tests with its own cryogenic engine that is expected to power the heavier rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mk III (GSLV Mk III).
- The GSLV Mk III has a capacity to carry around four tonnes of load.
- The rocket is scheduled to be flown in January 2017.
- The GSLV Mk III rocket is expected to save precious foreign exchange for India as it pays to launch heavier satellites through foreign space agencies.
- ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar said that the agency is looking forward to developing four-tonne communication satellites that will give the same output as a six-tonner.
