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Successful Endeavour in Space

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Successful Endeavour in Space Successful Endeavour in Space Dr K Sivan Tlae nr:diam spaee programme irmplenaemted hy ISRO has enabled the pursuit of vario,us fromtier areas oil spaee researah hesicles faeitrirta,timg tlae eountny's overail 'devefiopment and technologi.cal advaneememt. Today, ISRO sprawls across tFre eoiuntry wi',tla huge laun,ctr sitations, traeking eenters, R&D faeitrirties amd maanufaeturimg arad clata proeessing units, ail engaged in traighly sophist,ieatedl amd aornplex feenrnologieal aartivi,ties. he Indian space programme rocket on November 21. 1963 from It was at this time Dr Vikram has come a long way in the Thumba, then a fishing hamlet near Sarabhai, the architect of the Indian 57 years since its inception. Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of space programme, set up a Space From a fledgling Sounding Kerala. Later, Thumba became an Science and Techlology Centre at Rocket Launch Facility established intemational sounding rocket larurching Thumba for the development of in the early 1960s in Thumba near facility and such rockets were launched technologies necessary for space Trivandrum, it has mafured into a for upper atmospheric, geomagnetic research. In 1969, the Indian Space giant world-class space power. Today, and space research by many countries. Research Organisation, better known ISRO sprawls across the country with huge launch stations, tracking centers, R&D facilities and manufacturing and data processing units, all engaged in highly sophisticated and complex technological activities. Notwithstanding its presence as one of the strong space faring nations today, the Indian space progralnme began in a modest way in 1962 with the formation of the Indian National Committee on Space Research (INCOSPAR), barely five years after the launch of the Earth's first artificial satellite Sputnik-I, that heralded the space age. This farsighted critical decision and the later perseverant philosophy of the people who steered the programme, facilitated India to master space technology. The formal beginning of the Indian space programmg can be traced to the launch of a Nike-Apache sounding The author is the Secretary, Deparlment of Space and Chairman, ISRO. Email: [email protected] YOJANA January i.':.::j=:= its by ubiquitous acronym ISRO, was operational satellite launched in 1983, formed. Today, with a total work force demonstrated its ability to bring about of over 18,000, ISRO's establishments a rapid and major revolution in India's are functioning in many parts of the telecommunications, television broad- country with each concentrating on casting and weather forecasting fields. a specific area. The country's public Today, communication satellites as well as private sector industries are an integral parl of our economic are playing a crucial role in our infrastructure. space programme. Besides, academic An indication of India's ability institutions have also contributed to to design, build and maintain a the lndian space endeavour. complex remote sensing satellite was The 70s were the learning phase demonstrated in 1988 when IRS-lA, during which many experimental the first operational satellite built in satellites were built, including India's India started imaging the earth from first satellite Aryabhata, which was orbit. The images sent by that satellite launched on April 19, 1975 from a circling the Earth from its 900 km launch centre in the former Soviet Additionally, APPLE, India's high polar orbit were utilised in such Union. Aryabhata laid firm foundation first experimental communication diverse fields like agriculture, ground for the later immensely successful satellite, though launched by the water prospecting, mineral sulvey, Indian satellite programme. Bhaskara European Ariane rocket, reached its forestry etc. I and 2, the two experimental earth final geosynchronous orbital home in During the 1990s, ISRO observation satellites, provided the June 1981 with the help of a rocket began building INSAT-2 series of rich experience and the confidence motor developed in India. Aryabhata, multipurpose satellites indigenously. to build complex operational remote the two Bhaskaras, as well as APPLE At the same time, systematic usage sensing satellites. Today, India is a were launched free of cost, which of imagery from our remote sensing world leader in the satellite-based refl ects India's successfu I international satellites for tasks like crop yield remote sensing area. space cooperation policy. In the recent estimation, ground water and past, India has not only flown foreign mineral prospecting, forest survey, scientifi c instruments on-board Indian urban sprawl monitoring and spacecraft but has also launched them. wasteland classiflcation and fisheries APPLE Satellite development, began. Besides taking a leap into the Today, India has a fleet of domain of satellites, ISRO conducted advanced remote sensing satellites two significant experiments in the 70's equipped with high resolution and - SITE and STEP - to obtain hands- multispectral cameras dedicated to on experience on the utilisation of the themes of cartography, resource satellites for television broadcasting survey and ocean and atmospheric and telecommunications. And, it was applications. Apart from these polar in this decade that ISRO developed orbit-based observation satellites, its first Satellite Launch Vehicle SLV- weather watching satellites INSAT-3D 3, which had its successful launch on and NSAI-3DR- circling the earth in July 18, 1980 thrusting India into the the 36,000 km high geosynchronous select league of six countries with the orbit, are providing valuable inputs to capability to launch satellites on their weather forecasting. Apart from these own. satellites, the Indian National Satellite The 1980s were the times for (INSAT) system today is one of the experimentation for the launch vehicle largest domestic communication technologies when it endeavoured satellite systems in Asia-Pacific to demonstrate the country's ability region. The INSAT system with over to develop ASLV a more capable 300 transponders in the C-band, launch vehicle compared to SLV-3. Extended C-band, Ku-band, Ka/Ku During the same period, INSAI: band and S-band provides services 1B, India's first multipurpose to telecommunications, television ff,*t ons. Cryogenic technology involves storage of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen at very low temperatures. Materials used to operate at these very low temperafures, chilling processes, interplay of engine parameters make the development of cryogenic stage a very challenging and complex task. With the successful qualification of the indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) in the GSLV-D5 flight on January 5, 2014, ISRO demonstrated its mastery of cryogenic rocket propulsion. From January 2014, the vehicle has achieved six consecutive successes. GSLV Mk III, India's fifth generation satellite launch vehicle has two solid strap-ons, a core liquid booster and a cryogenic upper stage. The vehicle is designed to cany 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous broadcasting, radio networking, launching large satellites, had its first Transfer Orbit (GTO) or about 10 tons satellite newsgathering, societal successlul flight in 1994. to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). LVM3-X/ applications, weather forecasting, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle CARE Mission, the first experimental disaster and Search and waming (PSLV) is the third generation launch suborbital flight of GSLV Mk III Rescue operations. High throughput vehicle of India. It is the first Indian December 18,2014 and injected the satellites such as GSAT-ll, GSAT- launch vehicle to be equipped with Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry 29 ard GSAT-l9 are supporting the liquid stages. With 49 successful flights experiment (CARE) in December "Digital India" campaign by boosting retuin over the years, PSLV has emerged as 2014. CARE module began its the broadband connectivity to the rural joumey the reliable and versatile workhorse and a little later, re-entered the and inaccessible Gram Panchayats in launch vehicle of India. In fact, it earth's atmosphere. It was successfully the country. The transponders on these Bengal has launched 328 foreign satellites recovered over Bay of satellites will bridge the digital divide about 20 minutes after its launch. as on November 7, 2020 and has of users including those in Jammu & Subsequently, after successful carved out a niche in the commercial two Kashmir and North Eastern regions of developmental flights and with the satellite launch arena. On February 15, India. successful inj ection of Chandrayaan-2 2017, PSLV created a world record in to Earlh Parking Orbit in July 2019, Perfecting the launch vehicie by successfully placing 104 satellites GSLV Mk III successfully entered technology is an immensely difficult in orbit during a single launch. Wel1, a into its operational phase. and challenging task. Thus, only as numbers go, it was undoubtedly a few countries possess it. Till now, record, but the real significance of it Besides these, India's Reusable launch ISRO has developed flve is the immense confidence reposed Launch Vehicle Technology Demons- (SLV-3, PSLY vehicles ASLY by foreign countries, including the trator (RLV TD) was successfully GSLV and GSLV Mk III which is USA, in the capability of ISRO. This flight tested in May 2016 ar'd several also known as LVM3) and mastered success was the result of meticulous critical technologies were successfully the technology of rockets that use planning and flawless execution of the validated. The first experimental
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