In its longest and most complex mission, India’s space agency ISRO  launched eight satellites from one rocket into two different orbits.The PSLV or 37th Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, carrying three satellites from India, three from Algeria, and one each from Canada and the US, lifted off from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 9:12 am on September 26,2016.  ISRO said its launch was “100 per cent successful”.

What makes this mission a challenge is that the PSLV  launched its payloads in two different orbits. The twin-orbit manoeuvre was recently accomplished by European Space Agency’s Vega rocket.Most countries launch satellites in a single orbit and even if multiple satellites are injected, it is in a sequence in the same orbit.

India’s SCATSAT, meant for ocean and weather forecasts, cyclone detection and tracking, has been placed in orbit. India shares such data with the US, which helped them track Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Pratham, a 10-kg satellite developed by students of the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, will study the total electron count in space. The 5.25-kg PISAT made by students of Bengaluru’s PES University will take pictures of earth.

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