India has officially emerged as a "key player" in a booming and growing global commercial market for space-based communication and surveillance. This is after the country has made history by successfully launching 104 satellites using only a single rocket.
India Making History
On Wednesday, Isro's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C37 inserted India's weather observation Cartosat-2 Series satellite along with 103 nanosatellites - 96 of it coming from the US - into orbit after a textbook and breath-taking lift-off from the Sriharikota Space Centre.
According to TheTimesOfIndia, the launch was yet another success for the Indian Space Research Organization, which has rapidly gained itself a reputation globally for its successfully effective yet low-cost missions. India has already sent up dozens of satellites to space, which includes 20 all at once last year.
India's Impact In Space
By sending a flock of 104 satellites all at once into space just within minutes, which nearly tripled the previous record for a single-day satellite launch, it has established India as a "key player" in the growing commercial market for space-based surveillance and communication in not just Asia but in the entire world. Just by that feat, India has reinforced its ambition towards joining the elite space-faring nations.
India's Cost-effective Space Missions
Many of India's missions have cost far less than their equivalents in Europe, Russia, and the United States. Isro's Mars mission has only cost $73 million+, compared with Nasa's Maven Mars launch, which came in at a whopping $671 million.
According to CNN.com, the successful launch is just another feather in the cap of India's ambitious space program that has earned itself a reputation of offering reliable and low-cost alternatives towards existing international players. Over the past two decades, India has definitely become a key player in the lucrative commercial space market, offering low-cost space missions that will save a lot of resources.
