India will be launching their Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) to space tonight. It is set to launch later and it is said to break Russia's record of launching 37 satellites in one rocket launching.
India's Space Research organization or ISRO is the one launching the said rocket. Space has reported that Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV is scheduled to set off from India's Satish Dhawan Space Center at 10:58 p.m. EST tonight (0358 GMT on Feb. 15). It is attached with a shocking 104 satellites. Its primary satellite will be India's Cartosat-2 Earth-observation satellite. Other countries have also contributed their very own satellite to be attached to it.
Countries like Israel, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the United States were the ones who provided the nano-satellites. According to The Verge, 88 of those small spacecraft are from U.S. based company named Planet. Their satellites are called Doves and when they are together they are called Flock 3p. These Doves are Planet's signature space probes. They have been taking pictures of Earth from space using high resolutions.
Most of Planet's Doves spacecraft are secondary load only. They always tag along with other bigger satellites. This one is not an exception. India's PSLV will launch Cartosat 2D first, and then the other miniature satellites like the Doves will be released one by one.
PSLV weighs 3,040 lbs. (1,380 kg) together with the 104 satellites atop of it. The goal of this historical launch by India is to place the 104 spacecraft into polar sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 314 miles (505 kilometers), according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Watch the live launching in ISRO website.
They will be inside a deployer box that works like Jack-in-the-box. They are packed in a room in the deployer box and it has a small door that will be opened when it is time for their exit. Planet will observe the satellites for the next months
