Syllabus : 3. Indian Space Programme - Past, Present and Future; Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) — it's activities and achievements; Satellite Programmes of India and Use of Satellites in different fields like Health, Education,
Communication Technology, Weather forecasting affecting human lives;
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SPACE RESEARCH
Compiled for General Essay by Praturi Potayya Sarma
Mobile No.8143189271
Indian Space Research Organization: The Indian space programme implemented by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has enabled the pursuit of various frontier areas of space research besides facilitating the country’s overall development and technological advancement. ISRO sprawls across the country with huge launch stations, tracking centres, R&D facilities and manufacturing and data processing units, all engaged in highly sophisticated and complex technological activities.
The Indian space programme has come a long way in the 57 years since its inception.
From a fledgeling Sounding Rocket Launch Facility established in the early 1960s in Thumba near Trivandrum, it has matured into a giant world-class space power.
The Indian space programme 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-1, that heralded the space age. Indian Space Programme:
The formal beginning of the Indian space programme can be traced to the launch of a Nike-Apache sounding rocket on November 21, 1963, from Thumba.
Later, Thumba became an international sounding rocket launching facility and such rockets were launched for upper atmospheric, geomagnetic and space research by many countries.
It was at this time Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the architect of the Indian space programme, set up a Space Science and Technology Centre at Thumba for the development of technologies necessary for space research. In 1969, the Indian Space Research Organization, better known as ISRO, was formed.
India’s public as well as private sector industries are playing a crucial role in the space programme.
Besides, academic institutions have also contributed to the Indian space endeavour.
India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, was launched on April 19, 1975, from a launch centre in the former Soviet Union.
Bhaskara 1 and 2, the two experimental earth observation satellites, provided the rich experience and the confidence to build complex operational remote sensing satellites.
Today, India is a world leader in the satellite-based remote sensing area.
APPLE, India’s first experimental communication satellite, though launched by the European Arlene rocket, reached its final geosynchronous orbital home in June 1981 with the help of a rocket motor developed in India.
Aryabhata, the two Bhaskaras, as well as APPLE were launched free of cost, which reflects India’s successful international space cooperation policy.
In the recent past, India has not only flown foreign scientific instruments on-board Indian spacecraft but has also launched them.
Evolution:
ISRO conducted two significant experiments in the 70s – SITE and STEP – to obtain hands-on experience on the utilization of satellites for television broadcasting and telecommunications. ISRO developed its first Satellite Launch Vehicle SLV-3.
The 1980s were the times for experimentation for the launch vehicle technologies when it endeavoured to demonstrate the country’s ability to develop ASLV.
ASLV is a more capable launch vehicle compared to SLV-3.
During the same period INSAT-1B, India’s first multipurpose operational satellite launched in 1983, demonstrated its ability to bring about a rapid and major revolution in India’s telecommunications, television broadcasting and weather forecasting fields.
Today, communication satellites are an integral part of India’s economic infrastructure.
An indication of India’s ability to design, build and maintain a complex remote sensing satellite was demonstrated in 1988 when IRS- 1A, the first operational satellite built in India started imaging the earth from orbit. Remote Sensing Satellites:
During the 1990s, ISRO began building the INSAT-2 series of multipurpose satellites indigenously.
At the same time, systematic usage of imagery from our remote sensing satellites for tasks like crop yield estimation, groundwater and mineral prospecting, forest survey, urban sprawl monitoring and wasteland classification and fisheries development began.
Today, India has a fleet of advanced remote sensing satellites equipped with high resolution and multispectral cameras.
These are dedicated to the themes of cartography, resource survey and ocean and atmospheric applications & weather watching.
Satellites INSAT-3D and INSAT-3DR — circling the earth in the 36,000 km high geosynchronous orbit, are providing valuable inputs to weather forecasting.
Communication Satellites: Apart from these satellites, the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system today is one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in the Asia-Pacific region.
The INSAT system with over 300 transponders in the C-band, Extended C-band, Ku-band, Ka/Ku band and S-band provides services to telecommunications, television broadcasting, radio networking, satellite newsgathering, societal applications, weather forecasting, disaster warning and search & rescue operations.
High throughput satellites (HTS) such as GSAT-11, GSAT-29 and GSAT-19 are supporting the “Digital India” campaign by boosting the broadband connectivity to the rural and inaccessible Gram Panchayats in the country.
The transponders on these satellites will bridge the digital divide of users including those in Jammu & Kashmir and the North-Eastern regions of India. Launch Vehicles:
Till now, ISRO has developed five launch vehicles (SLV-3, ASLV, PSLV, GSLV and GSLV Mk III which is also known as LVM3) and mastered the technology of rockets that use solid, liquid as well as cryogenic propellants.
India developed its first launch vehicle SLV-3 in the 70s and persevered to perfect its second-generation launch vehicle ASLV during the 80s and early 90s.
PSLV, India’s first launch vehicle capable of launching large satellites, had its first successful flight in 1994.
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle of India.
It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages. With 49 successful flights over the years, PSLV has emerged as the reliable and versatile workhorse launch vehicle of India.
It has launched 328 foreign satellites as of November 7, 2020, and has carved out a niche in the commercial satellite launch arena.
On February 15, 2017, PSLV created a world record by successfully placing 104 satellites in orbit during a single launch. Launch of 104 Satellites by PSLV-C37:
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II (GSLV Mk II) is a fourth-generation launch vehicle having three stages (including the cryogenic upper stage) with four liquid strap-ons.
Cryogenic technology involves the storage of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen at very low temperatures.
With the successful qualification of the indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) in the GSLV-DS 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 carry 4 ton class of satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) or about 10 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
With two successful developmental flights and with the successful injection of Chandrayaan-2 into Earth Parking Orbit in July 2019, GSLV Mk III successfully entered into its operational phase. Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV TD):
India’s Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV TD) was successfully flight tested in May 2016.
Several of its critical technologies were successfully validated. SCRAMJET:
The first experimental mission of ISRO’s Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (SCRAMJET) engine towards the realization of an air-breathing propulsion system was also successfully conducted in August 2016.
With this, India became the fourth country to flight test the SCRAMJET engine. Space Technologies for the overall development of the country:
After Aryabhata – India’s first satellite, ISRO entered into the realm of science missions again with a unique mission that caught the attention of the world – the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment-1 (SRE- 1).
It was launched by PSLV in January 2007.
SRE-1 with its scientific experiments orbited the Earth for 12 days and was successfully deorbited and recovered over the Bay of Bengal.
This proved several technologies necessary for reusable launch vehicles and human spaceflight.
The space science missions of India—Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission, Astrosat and Chandrayaan-2 have caught the attention of millions of Indians as well as the outside world.
Launched by PSLV on October 22, 2008, the 1380 kg Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was successfully navigated to the Moon in three weeks and was put into an orbit around the moon.
On November 14, 2008, when ‘Moon Impact Probe’ separated from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and successfully impacted on the surface of the moon, India became the fourth country to send a probe to the lunar surface after the United States, the Soviet Union and Japan.
Chandrayaan-1 conclusively discovered water molecules on the lunar surface, it was widely hailed as a path-breaking discovery.
ISRO endeavoured to realize Mars Orbiter Mission, for demonstrating India’s capability to build, launch and navigate an unnamed spacecraft to Mars.
Launched by PSLV on November 5, 2013, the 1340 kg Mars Orbiter Spacecraft encountered Mars on September 24 2014.
With this, ISRO has become the fourth space agency to successfully send a spacecraft to Mars orbit.
Achieving success in the first mission itself is yet another accomplishment of ISRO.
AstroSat launched by PSLV in September 2015 is the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical and UV spectral bands simultaneously.
AstroSat recently made a major breakthrough by discovering one of the earliest galaxies in extreme-Ultraviolet light.
The Chandrayaan-2 mission is India’s second mission to the moon.
It was successfully launched on July 22, 2019.
Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter spacecraft was placed in its intended orbit.
The eight instruments onboard the Orbiter are continuously providing useful science data which will enrich our understanding of the moon’s evolution and mapping of the minerals and water molecules in Polar regions.
ISRO has successfully established and operationalized Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) which provides highly accurate Position, Navigation and Time information to users in India and its surroundings.
Through GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN), ISRO is providing Satellite-based Navigation services with the accuracy and integrity required for civil aviation applications and to provide better Air Traffic Management over Indian Airspace.
ISRO has also facilitated students in building/launching satellites for various applications. So far, 10 student satellites have been launched by ISRO. Human Space Flight:
The “Gaganyaan Programme” approved in 2018 is a point of inflection in the growth profile of India’s space endeavour, marking a seminal foray into the new age of human space exploration.
The Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) was constituted in ISRO in January 2019 for implementing the vision on the human space flight programme.
HSFC is entrusted to implement the Gaganyaan programme and to act as the lead centre for sustained and affordable human spaceflight activities.
The Gaganyaan project has the objective of demonstrating human space flight capability to Low Earth orbit (LEO) with 3 crew members for 5-7 days in orbit and safely recover them after the mission.
ISRO successfully proved a crucial technology element of human spaceflight in July 2018—the Pad Abort Test (PAT), which is the first in the series of tests to qualify the Crew Escape System (CES).
The Pad Abort Test flight was a demonstration of the capability of CES to evacuate the crew in case of a contingency at launch pad.
With this, India has become the fourth country in the world to acquire this vital technology after the USA, Russia and China. IN-SPACe:
Recently, the space sector was opened up to promote, handhold, regulate and authorise private enterprises and start-ups to undertake space activities by the creation of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe).
IN-SPACe will enhance the diffusion of space technology and boost the space economy within the country. Conclusion:
The Indian space programme has many challenges ahead. There are ambitious plans to build heavier and more capable and efficient satellites.
Space science missions like Chandrayaan-3, Aditya-L1, Mission to Venus to further explore the solar system, are in progress.
Pursuit of research and development activities pertaining to the small satellite launch vehicle, air-breathing rocket propulsion and demonstration of reusable rocket technology, are also progressing.
Thus, the Indian space programme implemented by ISRO has enabled the pursuit of various frontier areas of space research besides facilitating the country’s overall technological advancement.
