India's space agency launches 20 satellites in a single mission
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has injected 20 satellites into orbit in a single mission, using its flagship Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C34. These include 17 foreign satellites from the US, Canada, Germany and Indonesia, along with own India's earth observation satellite, Cartosat-2 Series.
The Indian space agency's 26-and-a-half minute mission took off at 9.26 a.m. IST, when the 320-tonne polar satellite lifted 20 satellites weighing 1,288 kg into space, and then placed them into a polar sun-synchronous orbit one after the other.
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This is the biggest single space mission for India. Only, NASA with 29 satellites in 2013, and Russia with 33 satellites in 2014, have had bigger single launches.
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Today's launch has been preceded by several successful missions. In 2014, India became the first country to reach Mars' orbit on a maiden venture, with the probe costing just $74 million. In April, it also developed its own navigation system by launching a series of seven navigation satellites. Last month, it successfully launched a scale model of a reusable spacecraft, sparking rumours of rivalling billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
The successful launch helps India promote ISRO as a low-cost service provider for the launch of small satellites. ISRO, which began launching foreign satellites in 1999, has launched 57 foreign satellites so far. It reportedly charges only 60% of the fees asked by other international agencies.
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Sonam Joshi was Mashable's principal correspondent in India. She has previously worked for The Times of India group and Time Out Delhi, and written for The Caravan, Mint Lounge and Yahoo Originals.
