New Delhi, Feb 15 (Agencies): The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched 104 satellites including 101 very small ones in a single mission on Wednesday, setting what it says is a world record of launching the most satellites at one go.

Of the 104 satellites, 96 nano satellites are from the United States, and one each from  Israel, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.

ISRO used its workhorse Polar vehicle, with the PSLV-C37 carrying a payload of over 650 kg, including a weather satellite.

The Cartosat-2 Series satellite, a remote sensing spacecraft with a five-year life span, would send images that would be used in coastal land use and regulation, road network monitoring, distribution of water, creation of land use maps among others, ISRO said. 

“This is a great moment for each and everyone of us. Today we have created history,” said project director B. Jayakumar.

”It was a very good learning experience for us. We have launched 226 satellites out of which 179 are from foreign nations,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his congratulations on the launch, which went off smoothly and was carried live on national TV news channels.

“This remarkable feat by ISRO is yet another proud moment for our space scientific community and the nation,” he said. “India salutes our scientists.”

ISRO's low prices attracted international customers to launch 75 satellites last year from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, as it seeks a bigger share of the $300 billion global space industry.

The nano-satellites belonging to international customers were launched as part of their arrangement with the Antrix Corporation Ltd (ANTRIX) the commercial arm of the ISRO. 

With a total payload of 1378 kgs, ISRO opted for the most powerful XL variant of the PSLV for the 16th time in today's mission. It had earlier been used in the 'Chandrayaan' and the Mars Orbiter Mission among others.

Cartosat-2 Series satellite was similar to the earlier four satellites in the series.