India Launches Record Number of Nano-Satellites Into Orbit

104 in single launch, to be exact—shattering previous record of 37 set in 2014 by Russia
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 15, 2017 7:47 AM CST
India Launches Record Number of Nano-Satellites Into Orbit
This photograph released by the Indian Space Research Organization shows its polar satellite launch vehicle lifting off at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India, on Wednesday.   (uncredited)

India's space agency said it successfully launched more than 100 foreign nano-satellites into orbit Wednesday aboard a single rocket. The Indian Space Research Organization said the nano-satellites—those weighing less than 22 pounds—were sent into orbit from southern India, noting the launching of the 104 satellites was a record, overtaking Russia's feat of sending 37 satellites in a single launch in 2014, the AP reports. "All 104 satellites were successfully placed in orbit," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar as saying. They included an Indian Earth observation satellite and two small technology demonstration satellites.

The ISRO said in a statement the other satellites were international customer satellites, including 96 from the US and one each from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, Kazakhstan, and the United Arab Emirates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the "remarkable feat by ISRO is yet another proud moment for our space scientific community and the nation." India has been striving to become a player in the multibillion-dollar space launch market and has successfully placed light satellites into orbit in recent years. It hopes to eventually send astronauts into space. In September 2014, India successfully guided a spacecraft into orbit around Mars. Only the US, the former Soviet Union, and the European Space Agency had previously been able to do that. (More India stories.)

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