ISRO to launch record 103 satellites at one go in February

India’s space agency ISRO will launch a record 103 satellites all but three of them foreign at one go on a single rocket in the first week of February in what will be a major feat not attempted by any country.

As India looks to grab a larger slice of the lucrative commercial space market, 100 of the 103 satellites set for launch by ISRO’s workhorse rocket PSLV-C37 in February from from its Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh belong to foreign nations, including the US and Germany.

“We are making a century by launching over 100 satellites at one go,” S. Somnath, Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told a plenary session on the second day of the ongoing Indian Science Congress here today.

The space agency had earlier planned a launch of 83 satellites in the last week of January, of which 80 were foreign ones. But with the addition of 20 more foreign satellites, the launch was delayed by a week and will now take place in first week of February, Somnath said.

He, however, did not specify the number of countries that would launch its satellites in this mission, but said it includes nations like the US and Germany.

“These will be 100 micro-small satellites, which will be launched using a PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)-C37. The weight of the payload will be 1350 kgs, of which 500-600 kgs will be the satellite’s weight,” Mr. Somnath added.