At 9: 30 am this morning, while you were probably brushing your teeth, India strode its way into space history by launching a record 104 satellites into space. The behemoth 44.4 metre tall and 320 ton variant rocket transporting the satellites soared into the sky from the Sriharikota spaceport. This was the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C37′s 39th mission for the country.

101 of the satellites on this historic launch belong to international customers, while the remaining three are under control of the government of India.

The most interesting of all is the first rocket launched was India’s high resolution Cartosat-2 series satellite, which is designed to keep tabs on India’s less than friendly neighbors China and Pakistan. This state-of-the-art satellite is bound to make some of the more worrisome people in our country far more at ease.

The other two Indian nano-satellites carried into space were the ISRO’s INS-1A and the INS-1B. These two space crafts transported various materials from the Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems (LEOS) of ISRO. Their purpose is to conduct experiments in space and further India’s study of space.

The previously largest number of satellites launched into space was 37 by Russia, an impressive feat at the time. However, this number now pales in comparison to India’s historic achievement, which will be a hard endeavour to top.