India launches 20 satellites in 26 minutes

India launches 20 satellites in 26 minutes

In a record launch, Indian space agency ISRO plans to orbit 20 satellites in a 26 minute flight today at 9.25 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.

India has successfully launched 20 satellites in a single mission, the most in the history of the country's ambitious space programme.

They include satellites belonging to the United States, Canada, Germany and Indonesia.

The launch took place from the Sriharikota space centre off India's east coast.

Observers say it is a sign that India is emerging as a major player in the multi-billion dollar space market.

The record for the most number of satellites launched in a single mission belongs to Russia, which sent up 37 satellites in 2014. The US space agency Nasa launched 29.



As Indian scientists and government ministers kept a close watch, the rocket carrying 20 satellites blasted off from the launch facility in Andhra Pradesh state.

The payload included devices ranging in weight from more than 700kg to as little as 1.5kg.

They include an Indian cartographic satellite as well as those belonging to the country's universities and international customers - 13 satellites are from the US, including one made by a Google-owned company.

It was the most satellites India has put in space at one go, though Russia set the record of 37 for a single launch in 2014.

Most of the satellites will enter orbit to observe and measure the Earth's atmosphere, while another aims to provide service for amateur radio operators.

"Each of these small objects that you are putting into space will carry out their own activity, which is independent of the other, and each of them will live a wonderful life for a finite period," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman A.S Kiran Kumar told NDTV, who described this morning's exercise as "a job well done."

The business of putting commercial satellites into space for a fee is growing as phone, Internet and other companies as well as countries seek greater and more high-tech communications.

India is competing with other international players for a greater share of that launch market, and is known for its low-cost space programme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the 20-satellite record as a "monumental accomplishment", tweeting that "our space programme has time and again shown the transformative potential of science & technology in people's lives."

Last month India successfully launched its first mini space shuttle as it joined the global race to make reusable rockets.

The shuttle was reportedly developed on a budget of just one billion rupees ($14 million), a fraction of the billions of dollars spent by other nations' space programmes.

India in 2013 sent an unmanned rocket to orbit Mars at a cost of just $73 million, compared with NASA's Maven Mars mission which had a $671 million price tag.