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7^th January 2017 Saturday 10 am

Milestones in the Journey of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

 

Introduction

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the premier space agency of India, which is committed to "harness space technology for national development, while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration".

The headquarters of ISRO is at Bengaluru and its Chairman is Mr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, who carries the titles of Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of the Space Commission.

Today, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is amongst the world's best in space technology. The space programme has been the fore-runner to the coveted Integrated Missile Technology Programme of India and encompasses interdisciplinary areas of space technology, rocket research, testing, launch and tracking.

In the succeeding paragraphs we shall discuss the contours of Indian space programme and the distinctive achievements of ISRO.

Advent of Space Research Programme

India’s pursuit for space research began immediately after it became a Republic on 26 January 1950, and in the same year set up the Department of Atomic Energy, with Homi Baba as it secretary.

When Soviet Union launched ‘Sputnik’ into space in 1957, it opened the vistas for space exploration for the rest of the world. Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was established at Bangalore in 1962 with Viram Sarabhai as its Chairman.

In 1969, INCOSPAR was superseded by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is the world’s largest Government space agency. Its objective is to advance space technology and use its applications for national benefits.

Milestones in the Journey of ISRO

First Indian Satellite

India built its first satellite, ‘Aryabhatta’ that was launched into space by Soviet Union on 15 April 1975.

During the 1960’s and 70’s programme were initiated for the development of indigenous launch vehicles, and finally in 1979, ISRO successfully developed Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3).

First Satellite Launched Indigenously

In 1980, ‘Rohini’, was the first satellite placed into orbit by the Indian SLV-3.

India was dependent on Russia for the commercial launch of satellites. Therefore, in order to achieve self sufficiency in this field, the period from 1980 - 1990’s was dedicated to the development of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

India developed this capability for launch of Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into Sun synchronous orbits. PSLV can launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit. PSLV was first launched on 20 September 1993.

As of 2015 the PSLV has launched 93 satellites (36 Indian and 57 foreign satellites of 20 different countries) into a variety of orbits.

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle broke the Russian held world record of launching ten satellites at one time in 2008.

On 30 June 2014, PSLV successfully launched five satellites (besides its own, Canada, Singapore, Germany and France) into orbit.

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully placed six satellites from Singapore in orbit after launching from Indian Space Research Organisation's space port in Sriharikota on 16 December 2015.

Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)

GSLV is meant to launch heavy satellites like the INSAT series, with a payload of 500 tons (in comparison Aryabhata which was 40 kgs only) to low earth orbit.

GSLV has been built by India with the cryogenic engine purchased from Russia. The transfer of technology for cryogenic engines from Russia was withheld due to the UN Resolution imposing sanctions against India after the Pokaran Nuclear Test conducted by India in May 1998.

India pressed into action its own cryogenic engine development programme. On 25 December 2010, ISRO, finding itself very close to achieving a success received a setback as the GSLV launch failed due to technical snags. Again in August 2013 launch had to be aborted because of fuel leakage during the second stage of launch.

Finally, on 05 January 2014, GSLV D5 successfully launched GSAT-14 into its intended orbit putting India into the elite ‘Cryo Club’, a select group of space-faring nations. The other countries that possess this capability are USA, Russia, France, Japan, and China.

This capability was crucial for India as it has been paying $85-90 million (500 crores) as fee to foreign agencies for launching communication satellites weighing 3.5 tons.

Satellites launched by ISRO for national benefit include:

INSAT Series. Multi-purpose geostationary satellites commissioned in 1983. It satisfies the need for telecommunication, broadcasting, metrology and search and rescue missions. INSAT is the largest domestic communication system in the Asia Pacific region.

IRS Series. Indian Remote Sensing Satellite System is the largest Remote Sensing constellation for civilian use in operation in the entire world. It provides useful data to undertake relevant national development programmes.

RISAT Series. Radar Imaging Satellites RISAT-1 and RISAT-2 have been launched to obtain high resolution data.

GSAT Series. These are experimental satellites launched from GSLV. GSLV D5 successfully launched GSAT-14 into its intended orbit on 05 January 2014.

GSAT-16. A multi-application satellite for telecommunication was successfully launched from on board Arianespace rocket from the space port of Kourou in French Guiana on 07 December 2014.

GSAT-16 has 48 transponders, which is the largest ever carried by a communication satellite.

The satellite has been built by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and is designed to provide direct-to-home (DTH) television broadcast covering the complete Indian Sub-continent.

Kalpna-1. ISRO dedicated its Metrological satellite launched on 12 September 2002, originally called MetSat to Kalpana-1 after her unfortunate demise.

IRNSS Series. It is an independent regional satellite system being developed by India to provide accurate position information to users in India and up to a distance of 1500 km of its boundary.

It is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system being developed by ISRO, which will be under the control of Indian government, since 2013.

It is being developed to offset reliance on global navigation satellite system like GPS, the availability of which cannot be guaranteed during hostile conditions.

This constellation will comprise of seven satellites, the first six satellites of the constellation, IRNSS-1A, IRNSS-1B, IRNSS-1C, IRNSS-1D, IRNSS-1E and IRNSS-1F have been successfully launched already from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota and are functioning satisfactorily. The last one, IRNSS-1F was launched on 10 March 2016. The constellation is envisaged to be completed by the end of 2016.

The navigational system so developed will be a regional one targeted towards South Asia. The satellite will provide navigation, tracking and mapping services.

Lunar Exploration

Chandrayan-1 First unmanned mission to moon was launched using modified version of PSLV from SD Space Centre, Srihaikota on 22 October 2008.

It comprised a Lunar Orbiter that orbited the moon to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography and a Lunar Impactor for the moon impact probe.

Chandrayan-1 became the first lunar mission to discover the traces of water on moon.

Chandrayan-2 Is being planned to be launched using GSLV-MkII by 2016-17 and it will be India’s second unmanned Lunar mission to further understand the origin and evolution of moon.

Mars Exploration

ISRO launched its $74 million first Mars Orbiter Mission called the Mangalyan on 05 November 2013. It carries 15-kilogram suite of five science instruments to study the Martian upper atmosphere, surface features and mineralogy.

Indian scientists on 22 September successfully tested the main engine of the country’s Mars mission spacecraft and completed a course correction that put the probe on track to enter the red planet’s orbit on September 24.

ISRO achieved the unattainable on 24 September 2014, and India became the first country in the entire world to put the Mars Orbitter into its intended orbit at a distance of 423 km from Mars in its first attempt and became the fourth country in the world to achieve this commendable feat.

Conclusion

Indian Space Research Organisation is the finest example of an efficiently run Public sector organisation. It has functioned with meagre resources and shoe string budgets to contribute exceptionally in the field of space research.

The high level of technological expertise available with ISRO and its functional model of planning, designing, management, execution and man-management, can be replicated in other fields that require immediate attention like, efficient transportation, water management, pollution control, power generation and distribution that are vital to country’s growth