ISRO’s PSLV To Set Off On The World's Longest Flight With Multiple Satellites On September 26

ISRO has already created a world record by launching 20 satellites from a single rocket and it’s on its way to setting a new one. ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) satellite launcher will for the first time place its multiple passengers in two different orbits.

This is the first time that any of PSLV’s flights will last more than 20 minutes. The estimated time of travel for this flight is 2 hours and 15 minutes, making it the longest flight ever.

PSLV-C35 is scheduled to be launched on Monday morning @ :12hrs(IST)on September 26, 2016 from SDSC SHAR,Sriharikotahttps://t.co/0XBbzrQl4O pic.twitter.com/78bjoMOKaB

— ISRO (@isro) September 21, 2016

In this flight, three Indians and five foreign commercial spacecrafts will ride together. However, only the main passenger, ISRO’s 370-kg Scatsat-1 ocean and weather tracker will make it to the higher orbit zone, getting off at around 700 km and in about 17 minutes, as is customary.

The smaller satellites that weigh around 5 kg and 10 kg respectively will be ejected at a distance of 600 km and will take 2 hours.

ISRO stumbled upon this idea during a flight in June this year. According to them, this could bring a revolutionary change in the way flights are launched, with respect to the needs of the customers. Since sometimes different customers need to reach different orbits or distances from earth, this could kick in great opportunities for everyone involved.

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“The campaign is in full swing for the launch of the PSLV-C35 on September 26. We have planned to release its different payloads [or spacecraft] at two different orbits this time. This will be a first multiple orbit launch in a single PSLV mission using the PS4 restart method.” said P.Kunhikrishnan, Director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, which handles launches at its two launch pads.

In the past months, the demand for PSLV’s launch service is increasing. So far, it has orbited 74 foreign commercial and university satellites in a global trend.