“Gravity is a good thing when it keeps you firmly planted on Earth’s surface, but it’s quite a nuisance when you’re trying to launch things into space. The economics of space launches are harsh; every ounce sent up has an astronomical cost attached, but the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) just set an efficiency world record. It successfully launched 104 satellites into space with a single rocket. A lot of them were very small, but that’s still a big achievement. The launch was carried out with a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), an expendable launch system developed by India specifically to get multiple satellites into orbit in a single rocket. It was previously used to launch 17 satellites from countries like Canada, the UK, and the US into space. That was impressive enough, but the new 104-satellite launch shatters the old record held by Russia of 37 satellites in a single launch. That one was set back in 2014.”