ISRO PSLV-37 Rocket Reenters Atmosphere

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that the upper stage of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C-37 (PSLV C-37) mission re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere.
• The mission, launched on February 15, 2017, with 103 satellites as co-passengers, was the first to launch 104 satellites with a single vehicle.
• The upper stage was left at an orbit of approximately 470×494 km after injecting the satellites and passivation.
• The orbital altitude of the rocket has decayed due to atmospheric drag effects, with a predicted re-entry in the first week of October 2024.
• The re-entry is fully compliant with international debris mitigation guidelines, including the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee’s recommendation for limiting the post-mission orbital life of a defunct object in Low-Earth orbit to 25 years.