Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh (ISJ) ? Exactly two years after its maiden successful launch of Mars Orbit Mission (MOM), Mangalyaan, India?s space agency, ISRO set another milestone on Monday (September 26). The thirty seventh flight of India?s warhorse space launcher PSLV C-35 placed eight satellites of different configurations in two different orbits. This mission was the longest of the PSLV missions conducted so far, lasting 2 hours 15 minutes and 33 seconds to complete after lift-off.
PSLV-C35 carried eight satellites ? India?s SCATSAT-1, three satellites from Algeria, one each from Canada and the USA. Besides, it also launched two academic satellites built by students of IIT, Mumbai and PES University, Bengaluru.
SCATSAT-1 is meant for weather related studies. The two Algerian satellites, ALSAT-1B and ALSAT-2B, are remote sensing satellites, while the ALSAT-1N is a technology demonstration nano-satellite for Algerian students.
On the other hand, the US satellite Pathfinder-1 is a commercial high resolution imaging micro satellite, while the Canadian NLS-19 satellite is a technology demonstration nano-satellite for experimentation in helping to reduce space debris and for tracking commercial aircraft.
IIT-Mumbai?s satellite PRATHAM?s mission objective is to estimate the total electron count with a resolution of 1km x 1km location grid, while PISAT from PES University and its consortium is a nano-satellite for remote sensing applications
With today?s launch, the PSLV?s capability to launch satellites into two different orbits has been successfully demonstrated. The total number of satellites launched by India?s workhorse launch vehicle PSLV has now reached 121, of which 42 are Indian and the remaining 79 are from abroad.
Meanwhile, India?s Mars Mission has completed two years around the Martian orbit on Saturday September 24, accomplishing its planned mission objectives. Initially, the life of MOM or Mangalyaan was estimated to be about six months after insertion into the Martian orbit. But it outlived its estimated life span by a year-and-a-half, to the credit of Indian Space Research Organisation scientists who designed, built and launched the spacecraft.
Mangalyaan was India?s first interplanetary mission. It is orbiting around Mars in an elliptical orbit of about 343 km x 71191 km as on 16th September 2016, said a statement by ISRO.
