For the record: India launches 104 satellites all at once
Two years after India became the first Asian nation to send a probe to Mars, the country鈥檚 space agency can claim another record: The most satellites launched with a single rocket.
, a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the Bay of Bengal, carrying 104 satellites from seven countries. By 10 a.m., all had successfully been inserted into orbit, and India had surpassed a bar of 37 satellites in 2014.
鈥淭his remarkable feat by is yet another proud moment for our space scientific community and the nation,鈥� the country鈥檚 prime minister, Narendra Modi, . 鈥淚ndia salutes our scientists.鈥�
In recent years, India has gained a reputation for reliable, inexpensive satellite launches; Tuesday鈥檚 launch positions it to gain an even bigger share of this fast-growing market.
鈥淚ndia offers launch costs that are fifty percent cheaper than the rest of the world,鈥� Pallava Bagla, a science editor with the privately run Indian TV channel NDTV, , so if SpaceX, or NASA can do it at $100, India is willing to do it at $50.鈥�
If anything, that may be an understatement. On Wednesday, reported that launching a satellite through SpaceX could cost around $60 million, but 鈥淚SRO charged an average of [$3 million] per satellite between 2013 and 2015.鈥�
ISRO鈥檚 strong position in the satellite-launch market had an inauspicious start. The first PSLV, launched in 1993, failed because of software glitches.
By persevering with the program, ISRO was able to take advantage of the country鈥檚 talented, but relatively low-wage, workforce to bring launch costs down.
Ramabhadran Aravamudan, former director of the ISRO Satellite Center in Bangalore, attributed India鈥檚 low launch prices to 鈥渃heaper labor costs and a state-led model that doesn't involve 鈥榠ndustries with their own profit margins,鈥� 鈥� .
This approach runs counter to the United State's current strategy of turning orbital spaceflight over to private firms as a means to bring costs down.
But ISRO has nonetheless found plenty of customers, and managed to capitalize on another recent trend: the development of lightweight, inexpensive that can be packed into a single rocket.
Tuesday鈥檚 launch 鈥� 88 of which belonged to the San Francisco-based imaging company Planet 鈥� into orbit, along with a larger environmental satellite. Last year, private launches like these (about $34 million) for ISRO鈥檚 commercial arm.
The experience has also enabled ISRO to set more ambitious goals, on a tight budget. The country鈥檚 Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter reached the Red Planet in 2014 at a cost of $75 million 鈥�
鈥淭hey're not at the level of the Big 4,鈥� Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told 海角大神 last May, referring to the space programs of the US, Russia, China, and Europe. 鈥滲ut they鈥檙e pretty darn good.鈥�
[Editor's note:听A previous version of this article misstated the US dollar value of 230 rupees crore. It is $34 million.]
