" EVEN SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT"
ISRO AKA Indian Space Research Organization is the space agency of the Government of India situated in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It aims to harness space technology for national development while pursuing space science research & planetary explorations.
Setting its foot in Indian space science in 1962 with the help of the Department of Atomic Energy led by Scientist Vikram Sarabhai, ISRO has been achieving milestones ever since. The permission of then-Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru gave ISRO the commencement it needed. Prior it was named the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) which was later on changed to ISRO. It is managed by the Dept. of Space who further reports to the PM of India. The main space station is in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
EARLY DAYS
Courtesy: William Harper
In its early days, before the Gulf boom, anybody wearing a pant and shirt in Trivandrum was presumed to be a ‘Rocketman’ as the locals wore only a ‘mundu’ (dhoti) and banyan (vest). The above photo simply depicts the hard work behind the Ingenius excellence of ISRO which all started in the 60's era.
Due to the lack of resources, even the satellites & rockets have to be carried on Bicycles & Bullock carts.
Nevertheless, talking about the scientists or staff whether junior or senior everybody had & still has the same passion, vision, charisma & energy that they had once back then. This is the reason why ISRO has been able to achieve every milestone ever possible simply because of their work ethic, simplicity & work spirit.
Challenges Faced
Due to being poor & scarce in resources, ISRO had to rely on the help of other nations to launch its satellites, import cryogenic fuels & engines for launch vehicles, etc. Many nations against India always tried to hamper our progress by not giving a helping hand.
One such incident which happened in 1993 was when India & Russia had an agreement where Russia would export us 7 cryogenic engines for the GSLV program. But later they suspended the whole contract just because of the American pressure behind it.
This is the reason which ignited ISRO to master GSLV technology which took another 20 years & finally India has been able to achieve this major development.
ISRO's Core Strength
PSLV- Commonly known as the polar satellite launch vehicle, it has been in use since the 1980s. The Chandrayaan mission (2008) & Mars orbiter mission, Mangalyaan (2014) have been launched via PSLV. Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) AKA Navic has also been launched through it. To date, almost 39 launches have been done through PSLV.
South Asia Satellite: South Asian satellite(G-SAT9) is a communication satellite that is a little lighter than GSLV. It was launched via GSLV Mark-II into Geosynchronous planned orbit on 5th May 2017. Also, it was the 4th consecutive success by GSLV carrying indigenous cryogenic upper stage.
GSLV Mk-III: ISRO has spent almost 2 decades in the making of cryogenic fuel for the Geostationary satellite launch vehicle. It is a muscular launch vehicle that can contain a payload ranging from 4,000-10,000 kg of the satellite in it & release it into its specified orbit. ISRO had never been helped by any country when it came to GSLV because of this it kept on doing rigorous efforts & finally was able to master the technology on its own. Cryogenic fuel which is used in the GSLV is purely indigenous as a result. It was on 5th June 2017 that ISRO saw the launch of GSLV MK-III which will eliminate India's dependence on other nations' help for launching our satellite. The target of ISRO is to launch 1 satellite per year via GSLV.
ISRO's Contribution
A) Indian earth observation (EO) system is carried out under the framework of the National Natural Resource Management System(NNRMS) under the aegis of the planning commission having a host of payloads in INSAT series & Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites.
9 high stature standing committees constituted under NNRMS for remote sensing in different fields :
1. Agriculture & soils
2. Bioresources
3. Geology & minerals resources
4. Water Resources
5. Ocean & meteorology
6. Cartography & mapping
7. Urban management
8. Rural Development
9. Training & development
B) Cartosat-1 was launched on 5th May 2005 by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C6 & it is used for cartography, cadastral mapping up-gradation, land use & GIS applications.
Cartosat-2 was launched by PSLV- C7 on January 10th, 2007 is an advanced remote sensing satellite & is used for Multi-scene imaging capability during a pass.
Cartosat-2A is India's 13th remote sensing satellite weighing around 690 kg and having a 64GB capacity. Its contribution to large-scale mapping in urban & rural development is unparalleled as it can even identify micro-objects like a car.
C) INSAT-VHRR imageries are used for news coverage & weather forecast reporting. Further, the data collected by INSAT is processed & disseminated by the INSAT Meteorological Data Processing System (IMDPS) of the Indian Meteorological Department.
D) ISRO has made a captive satellite-based network work for :
- NTPC
- GAIL
- ONGC
- National Fertilizers Ltd
- Coal India Ltd
E) At present Tatasky & Doordarshan DTH services is operational through the INSAT-4 series.
F) Edusat launched by GSLV F01 in 2004 is India's 1st Thematic satellite dedicated exclusively to online education services to create interactive classrooms.
G) Insat 3E, launched by ISRO on September 28, 2003, the exclusive satellite of ISRO constituted has 128 transponders available for communication & broadcasting making India one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in the Asia Pacific region.
H) GRAMSAT program is an Initiative rendering communication networking state capital to the district & blocks thereby providing:-
- Computer Technology
- Data broadcasting
- TV broadcasting facilities( like E-governance, Teleconferencing, Disaster management, Telemedicine development info, Distance education & national resource info system.)
I) IRS satellites facilitate remote sensing applications for Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission, whereby 7 groundwater prospects mapping on a 1:50,000 scale & generation of digital database related to groundwater prospecting like geomorphology, lithology, hydrology & geological structures were taken in sections.
Achievements Timeline of ISRO
1. In 1970 the satellite launch level (SVL) project was initiated under APJ Abdul Kalam's
leadership.
2. In 1975 first Indian satellite named "Aryabhatta" was launched from Russia's Kapustin Yar.
3. In 1992 ISRO successfully launched an Augmented satellite launch vehicle (ASLV) carrying
SROSS-C satellite along with the successful launch of INSAT-2A.
4. In 2001, ISRO successfully launched the GSAT-1 satellite through heavy rocket GSLV.
5. The year 2008 saw India's 1st unmanned lunar probe 'Chandrayaan' by ISRO becoming the 6th space organization to do so.
6. In 2012 ISRO launched its 100th space mission via PSLV-C21 rocket embedded with 2 foreign satellites later place into earth's orbit.
7. In 2014, ISRO made its biggest achievement with the successful launch of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) AKA Mangalyaan using PSLV-XL totally costing $617 million.
8. Mangalyaan successfully entered Martian orbit in 2014 labeling India's 1st country to complete a maiden Mars mission session.
9. The year 2015 witnessed ISRO launching GAGAN( GPS aided geo augmented Navigational Satellite system) & joined the list of US, Japan & European union who did similarly.
10. In June 2016, India set a record for itself by successfully launching 20 satellites in one mission.
11. Same year ISRO launched the Indian Regional Navigational satellite system(IRNSS) for marine navigation, vehicle tracking, disaster management, Fleet Mgt & navigational aid for Drivers.
12. 2016 also saw successful testing of Reusable launch vehicle technology demonstrator (RLV-TD) & is known as India's space shuttle.
13. On 15th Feb 2017, the whole world witnessed ISRO's launching 104 satellites of 7 countries in one mission via PSLV-C37 thereby breaking the record of Russia(37 satellites) & the USA (29 satellites) & this mission will forever change the commercial satellite industry in space technology.
14. ISRO launched a South Asian satellite(G-SAT9) by GSLV-MKII into Geosynchronous planned orbit on May 5th, 2017. It was the 4th consecutive success by GSLV carrying indigenous upper stage.
15. ISRO launched 640-tonne GSLV- MKIII AKA 'Fat Boy' on 5th June 2017. The muscular rocket carried a satellite weight above 3 tonnes into an Orbit highly above the earth.
16. In Jan 2018, ISRO launched 31 satellites in a single go thereby making satellites century including Cartosat-2 (Weather satellite) by PSLV-C90.
What's Up Next
1. The GSLV especially GSLV-F10 is the designated rocket to fly India's second mission to the moon- Chandrayaan 2 very soon in 2019 as it was delayed in 2018 due to technical glitches. This mission will be a totally indigenous mission comprising of an orbiter, lander & Rover. Chandrayaan 2 weighing around 3290 kg will orbit around the moon & will perform remote sensing throughout.
2. Mission Gaganyaan 2022: ISRO will conduct its first-ever manned space mission on the moon for 2022, as announced by Hon'ble Prime Minister 'Narendra Modi' on the Independence Day 2018 speech. Preparation for which has already begun.
Final Word
As ISRO is soaring very high in its ambitions & goals, there are still challenges that will obstruct their way to becoming better & innovative with time. Also, it is a matter of Question that how much time the Navic satellite signals will take to perform full-fledged so that India doesn't have to rely on the USA's GPS(Global positioning system) anymore & can use its indigenous technology.
Also, will India be able to fully accomplish mission Gaganyaan in 2023 with a properly working satellite along with its launch vehicle GSLV & most importantly Astronauts?
We just have to be optimistic about their efforts as if ISRO can achieve this level without any helping hand then surely it will do something very good in the future with less investment as always.
So, feel free to share your opinions about ISRO.
P.S. I would love to hear it.
