Foreign Companies To Bear Half The Cost Of ISRO’s Record Satellite Launch

Foreign companies will pay half the costs incurred by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the multiple satellite launch on 15 February.

Of the 104 satellites, to be launched from the foreign capsules mounted on its workhorse rocket PSLV-C37 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, only three are Indian.

Wishing to put its capacity to maximum use, ISRO said it will accommodate the foreign satellites in its 600-kg additional space. “We are launching our three satellites. One is of 730 kg while other two are 19 kg each. We had additional space of 600 kg. So we decided to accommodate 101 satellites,” ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar said.

The 101 satellites are nano-satellites and belong to countries, including the US and Germany. The Indian satellites are from the Castrosat series. Last year, ISRO launched a record 20 satellites at one go. The highest number of satellites launched in a single mission is 37, a record that Russia set in 2014.

Kumar said ISRO is at present doing tests on its lander for Chandrayaan 2 at its facility in Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu and Challakere in Karnataka. The space agency, which has achieved mastery on launching smaller satellites, has earned more than $100 million by launching foreign satellites.