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Gravity is a good affair when it keeps you firmly planted on Earth'south surface, only it's quite a nuisance when you're trying to launch things into space. The economics of space launches are harsh; every ounce sent up has an astronomical cost attached, but the Indian Space Enquiry Organisation (ISRO) just set up an efficiency world record. It successfully launched 104 satellites into space with a unmarried rocket. A lot of them were very small, but that'due south still a big achievement.

The launch was carried out with a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), an expendable launch system adult by Bharat specifically to get multiple satellites into orbit in a unmarried rocket. It was previously used to launch 17 satellites from countries like Canada, the UK, and the United states of america into space. That was impressive plenty, but the new 104-satellite launch shatters the onetime record held by Russia of 37 satellites in a unmarried launch. That ane was set back in 2022.

The ISRO mission included a payload of 103 nanosatellites, 96 of which belonged to a US space business firm called Planet. The remaining nanosatellites come up from India, kingdom of the netherlands, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, State of israel, and the United Arab Emirates. There was also a 714 kg (i,574 pound) Indian satellite known as Cartosat-2, which volition exist used to Earth observations. The total payload had a mass of 1,377kg (3,036 pounds), so the Cartosat-two was the bulk of it. Each nanosatellite is merely about six and a half kilograms (14.three pounds).

The infusion of 96 new satellites brings Planet's fleet to a total of 144. That's actually another tape — the largest private satellite armada in operation. Planet's goal is to image the entire surface of the Earth every unmarried mean solar day. A lofty goal to be sure, but the company says information technology now has the necessary hardware in orbit to make it happen. It expects to start imaging operations inside three months, capturing as much as ii million square kilometers per day.

India has moved aggressively to lower the toll of its space exploration efforts. In 2022 information technology sent a probe to Mars for $74 million, a fraction of what similar missions cost NASA and the ESA. Much of that is, of course, the lower price of labor in India. Efficient designs like the PSLV are part of it, as well. Private space firms like SpaceX are taking a unlike route with highly advanced rockets. The SpaceX Falcon nine beginning stage is capable of returning to Globe propulsively after launch to be reused. If Bharat can go along launching satellites on this calibration, it could be a rival to individual space firms for launch services.