Kalamsat-V2,

1. a student payload (Contributed by college students and the members of a Chennai-based organisation – Space Kidz India) and first to use PS4 (the fourth stage of the vehicle) as a platform to orbit around the Earth.
2. It is the lightest satellite to be ever built and launched into orbit and it is also Isro’s first launch of a satellite built by a private firm.
3. It is a communications satellite for ham radio transmission, a form of wireless communication used by amateurs for non-commercial activities.

and Microsat-R, an imaging satellite, is meant for military purposes

• This launch marked the first mission of PSLV-DL, a new variant of PSLV with two strap-on motors.
• Isro made an attempt to recover the dead rocket stage in this launch. With PSLV rockets the first three stages usually drop back to Earth; its fourth and final stage using liquid propellants is stopped and restarted several times to get a spacecraft into just the right orbit.
• Isro converted this fourth stage into an experimental orbital platform to conduct small experiments in space. This experimental orbital platform will aid in carrying out experiments in a near zero-gravity environment.