The main satellite in this ISRO launch event is India’s own earth observation satellite, Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite (HySIS).
In the recent years, ISRO’s brand value has sky-rocketed at a global level which is evident by the fact that more and more countries are interested in utilizing Indian rockets for launching their satellites, that also resulted in the expansion of Indian space agency’s commercial viability.
From building India’s first satellite, Aryabhata in 1975 to launching Chandrayana-1 in 2008, the institution has evolved leaving many glorious milestones.
Here are the highlights that show how ISRO and the current administration have found a perfect rhyme and rhythm in achieving newer heights in various space endeavours.
The first satellite in this series was launched in July 2013 and the rest six were launched between 2014 and 2016.
Compared to pre-2014 era, where the number of Ministries using ISRO data was limited to few, under the Modi Government, every possible department under various Ministries are using ISRO data.
This included 24 from the United States too.
The mission is going to see ISRO putting payloads in three orbits as well as conducting various space experiments for the very first time.
ISRO’s third-generation workhorse PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) was used for the launch and was the 47th flight of PSLV.
This mission marks the space agency’s numerous firsts because it will be maneuvering satellites in multiple orbits and experiments on maritime satellite applications and many others will also be conducted.
The rest of the 28 international satellites are one 2U type, two 6U type and twenty-five 3U type nano satellites from the U.S. (24), Switzerland (1), Spain (1) and Lithuania (2).
It is ISRO’s versatile and reliable launch vehicle and has made 39 consecutive flights so far.
TeamIndus had reportedly aimed to land on the moon by 31 March 2018 using ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Google Lunar XPRIZE is a competition which is aiming to inspire engineers and innovators to come up with low-cost methods of robotic space exploration.
To win the competition, the team needs to successfully place a space probe on the moon's surface, make it travel at least 500 meters and then transmit HD video and images back to Earth.
The winner gets $20 million, while the second place team gets $5 million.
However, according to a report in The Ken, multiple ISRO sources have confirmed to it that TeamIndus will not be getting the PSLV rocket as TeamIndus could not generate funds needed to pay for the launch and operations beyond.
The Ken had earlier reported that TeamIndus was already late in reaching its technical milestones and it was evident that even if they had received the required funding, logistical and technical failures would have made it impossible to meet the 31 March deadline set by Lunar XPRIZE.
