
India launches 20 satellites in single mission - chetangole
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36593855
======
rzimmerman
Some more detail about the payloads:

[http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/06/22/pslv-c34/](http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/06/22/pslv-c34/)

This launch includes 12 Earth imaging satellites from Planet
([https://www.planet.com/pulse/flock-2p-launches-
successfully-...](https://www.planet.com/pulse/flock-2p-launches-successfully-
on-pslv/)) and a second generation satellite from Google's Terra Bella.

------
sundarurfriend
> The chairman of the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro),
> Kiran Kumar, told the NDTV news channel that launching 20 satellites in a
> single mission was like "allowing birds to fly in space".

 _' What, what does that mean?'_

> "Each of these small objects that you are putting into space will carry out
> their own activity, which is independent of the other, and each of them will
> live a wonderful life for the finite period for which they have been
> designed," he said, ahead of the launch.

 _' Oh! That was... surprisingly poetic.'_

------
sidcool
There will be naysayers when a second or third world country achieves a
milestone. Inspite of similar feats done before by developed nations, this is
huge for developing economies. Similar thing happened when the earlier Prime
Minister of India announced that India will launch a Mars mission within a
year at a fraction of cost at what NASA or ESA would do it. Most people
laughed at it, and said it's impossible and what not. But guess what, India
did send a successful Mars mission that's orbiting the red planet right now.
Since then I take 'Expert' HN comments with a pinch of salt. Sometimes HN
acknowledges a feat only when done by Elon Musk, NASA or ESA.

~~~
simonh
> Most people laughed at it, and said it's impossible and what not. But guess
> what, India did send a successful Mars mission that's orbiting the red
> planet right now. Since then I take 'Expert' HN comments with a pinch of
> salt.

I've been on HN for many years and my recollection is that the community here
has been very supportive and encouraging of India's efforts in space
technology.

~~~
sangnoir
> I've been on HN for many years and my recollection is that the community
> here has been very supportive and encouraging of India's efforts in space
> technology.

Unless your memory is selective - you may recall that the support was far from
unanimous. _I_ recall a number of HNers stating that the ISRO budget would be
better spent on other 'more pressing' challenges India is facing (poverty,
sanitation). In fairness, there was a lot of push-back against the naysayers,
stating why the space program is money well spent (the most prominent benefits
I recall were improved weather predictions benefit farming and cheaper/better
telecoms)

\--edit: added stuff below this line--

The naysayers have made an appearance in this very thread. They are currently
being downvoted (I expect nothing less from HN).

~~~
Retric
That's not being a naysayer. I think the same is true of the US space program.

If we really want to colonize space we need self sustaining habitats and
highly compact and automated manufacturing from raw materials. Both can be
done while staying on earth, and sending people up or yet another probe is
mostly pointless.

~~~
sangnoir
> and sending people up or _yet another probe_ is mostly pointless

Good thing they are lifting telecom & weather sats too! It's reasonable to say
those are not pointless.

It's unreasonable to put space programs on hold while we try to solve the
human condition. There is no political will or even widespread support. People
are horrible - they worry about themselves, their families, their
neighbourhoods, towns and countries _in that order_. "Self-sustaining
habitats, pffft, not with my hard-earned tax dollars. Build my kid's school a
bigger stadium than last years'"

------
satyajeet23
Out of 20, only 2 are Indian, 13 satellites are from US and others, including
one made by a Google-owned company.

~~~
praneshp
The satellites themselves aren't that interesting; the cool part is supposed
to be 20 at a time

------
zellyn
Out of curiosity: how do you launch 20 satellites like this without danger of
collisions? I guess you accelerate between deploying each satellite to
slightly change the orbit?

~~~
beachstartup
perhaps like this:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/4omesk/pre...](https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/4omesk/precision_bun_sorting/)

------
rrrazdan
As an Indian and personal supporter of the Indian space program, I don't see
this as a feat in the international sense.

What was the technological leap? ISRO could have done this few years back as
well. Its just that the payload combination clicked this time.

By bragging about things like these we merely betray our jingoism. And what's
more when a real technological feat happens it would be drowned out because we
gloated over things like this.

Also I hope many of the posters here are seriously thinking about giving to
ISRO or working for them. ISRO could seriously use more tech talent.

~~~
vthallam
> As an Indian and personal supporter of the Indian space program, I don't see
> this as a feat in the international sense.

It makes sense since the only other two agencies which were able to send many
satellites were NASA and the Russian space agency. So this news shows ISRO is
also a serious contender.

>By bragging about things like these we merely betray our jingoism.

Posting a BBC article here is not bragging. Though i wouldn't suggest people
to go out and say we are the best, since we aren't, I don't see any harm in
posting this kind of news on HN.

You seem to think things should be ground breaking to be appreciated, it need
not be to appreciate the efforts of the scientists.

------
ucaetano
Anyone has cost/kg to LEO for this launch system?

~~~
kirrent
the PSLV's payload to LEO is 3.25 tons. Wikipedia gives the cost of a launch
at 15 million USD so that gives about $4600/kg to LEO. For context, that's
nearly twice as expensive per kg as a Falcon 9 launch but they're difficult to
compare because they serve different launch markets.

------
walrus01
I wouldn't say that India is a "major player" in the satellite launch market
yet, considering the reliability record of its rockets:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosynchronous_Satellite_Launc...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosynchronous_Satellite_Launch_Vehicle#Launch_history)

They're uninsurable for commercial telecom satellite launches. The PSLV is
slightly better but also has a much smaller market.

------
Johnie
People playing Kerbal Space Program [1] have been doing multiple satellite
launches for a while.

But the more serious point is that we now have an entire generation of kids
growing up learning about rocket science. It's exciting to see what they will
do with this knowledge when they grow up.

See: * [https://youtu.be/4WP4yICiZno](https://youtu.be/4WP4yICiZno)

* [https://youtu.be/fEtgo4M7Z8g](https://youtu.be/fEtgo4M7Z8g)

* [http://imgur.com/a/WjGNH](http://imgur.com/a/WjGNH)

[1]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/](https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/)

------
zump
How can I get a job at ISRO.

~~~
DroidX86
Apply at the ISRO website.[0] They have vacancies for all kinds of positions.

[0] [http://www.isro.gov.in/careers](http://www.isro.gov.in/careers)

~~~
zump
Do you have to be born in India?

~~~
rck404
Yes unless you can provide something Indian citizens cannot provide like
expertise in some of the systems ISRO doesn't have proficiency in. I don't say
these in demeaning way. India is a 1.26 billion people country and pays less
when you compare to salaries of NASA in USD. There's also the aspect of ISRO
also being important research organization for defence. It's more like US DRDO
and NASA both in a single entity. As a national security risk it's mostly
Indian citizens with SMEs on contractual basis

~~~
pravula
Not true. ISRO is not NASA and "US DRDO" (this should be a clue. DRDO is
separate) rolled into one. ISRO has been a civilian program to avoid MTCR
issues (although it did not help with GSLV) with DRDO running IGMDP
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Guided_Missile_Deve...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Guided_Missile_Development_Programme))

------
Zelmor
That is an aged political view of the world. Nowadays, a third world country
is where you can die of disease, infection, etc. by drinking water due to lack
of sanitation. Where infrastructure is missing almost completely, and where
the majority of people live below international poverty lines (no, US families
with 3 bedroom houses and loans to pay are not below the international poverty
line. People sleeping in their newpaper-stand that they also work from are
below such line.)

Clean and safe menstrual pads, clean water, infrastructure, education,
controlled agriculture. These are pillars of progress. Space programs are
impressive, but are of very little consequence when half the population is so
poor, they crap on the streets in plain sight at daylight. Meanwhile women are
ashamed to hang their sanitary pads in the sun to properly disinfect them due
to 3rd world superstitions about cleanness and evil spirits. There are grown
men in India who don't even know that women have periods. Others bury their
dead in the Ganges while downstream the same water is used for cooking and
drinking.

[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/30/idia-s...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/30/idia-
sanitary-pad-revolution-menstrual-man-periods-waste-problem)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunachalam_Muruganantham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunachalam_Muruganantham)

[http://hazlitt.net/blog/india-has-toilet-problem-not-poop-
pr...](http://hazlitt.net/blog/india-has-toilet-problem-not-poop-problem)

~~~
whack
Even ignoring all the factually false statements, that was an unnecessarily
condescending rant.

~~~
themartorana
Here we go again.

The statements are not false, burying your head in the sand is not going to
make uncomfortable things untrue. Minus the menstrual-pad thing, I've seen the
rest with my own eyes in India.

~~~
whack
_" the majority of people live below international poverty lines"_

The international poverty line is ~$700/year. India's average income, adjusted
for purchasing parity, is $6100/year. If you're going to make inflammatory,
derogatory statements, at least get your facts right.

~~~
dragonwriter
> > "the majority of people live below international poverty lines"

> The international poverty line is ~$700/year. India's average income,
> adjusted for purchasing parity, is $6100/year.

The mean income (which is the average for which that statement is true) tells
you nothing about whether the majority is above or below a certain point,
unless you know independently that the distribution is normal, so that the
mean is also the median (but that's unlikely for an income distribution in a
country.)

~~~
whack
Yes, I'm aware of the mean vs median distinction. But if someone states that
the majority of the country has an income below X, and I find out that the
average wage in the country is actually 8X, I'm going to be extremely
skeptical of the original statement. The amount of income inequality that is
needed to produce a situation like that, is so extreme that no one should
believe it without supporting data.

As it turns out, I was right. The other person to reply to me, dug up evidence
showing that only 22% earn below the intl poverty line. Not _" the majority"_
as was stated.

------
ForFreedom
Has any country achieved this feat? [update] Has any country achieved this
feat at this cost?

~~~
pilsetnieks
Read the article:

> The record for the most number of satellites launched in a single mission
> belongs to Russia, which sent up 37 satellites in 2014.

Also, it's not exactly a feat. If someone really wanted, they could stuff a
rocket full of nanosats but I imagine there's more risk in launching that much
at once. (They could be released in sequence but still, more chances for
something to go wrong.)

~~~
sidcool
Yep, it's that easy.

~~~
pilsetnieks
It's not what I said. I meant that there probably are reasons apart from
difficulty that people don't launch so many satellites at once.

