- Sputnik International
Asia
Find top stories and features from Asia and the Pacific region. Keep updated on major political stories and analyses from Asia and the Pacific. All you want to know about China, Japan, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

India Successfully Puts Record 20 Satellites Into Orbit – Space Agency

© AFP 2023 / STRLaunch of Satellite from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in the Indian town of Sriharikota (file)
Launch of Satellite from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in the Indian town of Sriharikota (file) - Sputnik International
Subscribe
India has launched a record 20 satellites from its Satish Dhawan space center on the Sriharikota island off eastern coast, the national space agency said early Wednesday.

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C-34 carried India’s latest earth observation Cartosat-2 satellite along with US, German, Canadian and Indonesian satellites, as well as two satellites made by Indian students.

Kiran Kumar, head of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), congratulated all the scientists associated with the project on the successful launch.

"I would like to congratulate the ISRO team for the successful launch of PSLV C-34. All the five stages have been successful," Kumar said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated ISRO, saying that it "continues to break new barriers."

​According to the Indian leader, over the years, his country has developed "expertise and capability to help other nations in their space initiatives."

President Pranab Mukherjee also congratulated the ISRO scientists on the successful launch.

Dr. Ajay Lele, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis, told Sputnik that the launch is a "landmark achievement of ISRO" since there are few countries who have achieved the distinction of launching many satellites in one go.

"This is significant mission for India because they have launched 20 satellites in a single mission," Lele said.

The academic noted that some of the satellites were launched for Indian universities, which indicates that India’s next generation is getting ready for the satellite business.

"So this has both social as well as economic connotations," Lele concluded.

It is not the first time that ISRO has put multiple satellites into the orbit in a single launch. It launched 10 satellites at once in 2008.

The world record for placing the highest number of satellites belongs to Russia, which put a total of 37 satellites atop a Dnepr rocket in 2014.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала