Bengaluru: The upper stage of PSLV-37 rocket, which launched a record number of 104 satellites more than seven years ago, has re-entered the earth’s atmosphere as predicted, the Indian Space Research Organisation announced on Tuesday.
PSLV Rocket Enters Earth
PSLV-C37 was launched on February 15, 2017 with Cartosat-2D as the main payload along with another 103 satellites as co-passengers. It created history as the first mission to launch 104 satellites with a single vehicle, the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency noted in a statement.
After injecting the satellites and passivation, the upper stage (PS4) was left at an orbit of approximately 470 x 494 km size. It was regularly tracked and its orbital altitude slowly decayed, primarily due to atmospheric drag effects, it said.
Since September 2024, IS4OM ( ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management) regularly monitored the orbital decay as part of its regular activities and predicted the re-entry into the atmosphere in October first week. The re-entry occurred on October six. “The corresponding impact point is in the North Atlantic Ocean,” it said.
“The atmospheric re-entry of the rocket body within eight years of its launch is fully compliant with the international debris mitigation guidelines, in particular, the guideline of Inter-Agency Space Debris coordination committee (IADC) that recommends limiting the post-mission orbital life of a defunct object in Low-Earth orbit (LEO) to 25 years,” the statement said.
