ISRO to launch 103 satellites in one go

Tirupati, January 4

India’s space agency ISRO will launch a record 103 satellites in 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 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 in 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.

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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. — PTI