WikiPortallus: Indian Space Research Organisation.html

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Devanagari: भारतीय अन्तरिक्ष अनुसंधान संगठन)—the apex body for space research under the control of the government of India—was formed in its modern avatar in 1969 as a result of coordinated efforts initiated earlier. Under the guidance of a number of scientists ISRO conducted a number of operations—including satellite, lunar, and interplanetary missions supported by its launch vehicles fleet—which were applied for practical purposes in India and abroad. ISRO has several field installations at its disposal and cooperates with the international community as a part of several bilateral and multilateral agreements.

Formative years

Modern space research in India is most visibly traced to the activities of scientist S.K. Mitra who conducted a series of experiments leading to the sounding of the ionosphere by application of ground based radio methods in 1920's Calcutta.¹ Later, Indian scientists like C.V. Raman and Meghnad Saha contributed to scientific principles applicable in space sciences.¹ However, it was the period after 1945 which saw important developments being made to coordinated space research in India.¹ Organized space research in India was spearheaded by two scientists: Vikram Sarabhai—founder of the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmadabad—and Homi Bhabha, who had played a role in the establishment of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1945.¹ Initial experiments in space sciences included the study of cosmic radiations, high altitude and airborne testing of instruments, deep underground experimentation at the Kolar mines—one of the deepest mining sites in the world, and studies of the upper atmosphere.² Studies were carried out at research laboratories, universities, and independent locations.²³

Government support became visible by 1950 when the Department of Atomic Energy (India) was found with Homi Bhabha as the secretary.³ The Department of Atomic Energy provided funding for space research throughout India.⁴ Tests on the Earth's magnetic field—studied in India since the establishment of the observatory at Colaba in 1823—and aspects of meteorology continued to yield valuable information and in 1954, Uttar Pradesh state observatory was established at the foothills of the Himalayas.³ The Rangpur Observatory was set up in 1957 at Osmania University, Hyderabad.³ Both these facilities enjoyed the technical support and scientific cooperation of the United States of America.³ Space research was further encouraged by the technically inclined prime minister of India—Jawaharlal Nehru.⁴ In 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched the Sputnik and opened up possibilities for the rest of the world to conduct a space launch.⁴ The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was found in 1962 with Vikram Sarabhai as its chairman.⁴

Beginning in the 1960s, close ties with the Soviet Union enabled ISRO rapidly develop the Indian space program and advance nuclear power in India even after the first nuclear test explosion by India on May 18, 1974 at Pokhran.⁵ The death of Homi Bhabha in an air crash on January 24, 1966 came as a blow to the Indian space program.⁶ Following Bhabha's passing, Sarabhai was sent to assume Bhabha's place as the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy.⁶ The 1960s also saw the founding of the Space Science and Technology Centre (SSTC), Experimental Satellite Communication Earth Station (ESCES, 1967), the Sriharikota base, and the Indian Satellite System Project (ISSP).⁶ The Indian Space Research Organization in its modern avatar was formed by Vikarm Sarabhai in 1969.⁶ This body was to take control of all space activities in the Republic of India.⁶

Goals and Objectives

The prime objective of ISRO is to develop space technology and its application to various national tasks.⁷ Indian space program was driven by vision of Dr Vikram Sarabhai considered as the father of Indian Space Programme.⁸ As stated by him:

India's economic progress has made its space program more visible and active as the country aims for greater self reliance in space technology.¹⁰ Hennock etc. hold that India also connects space exploration to national prestige, further stating: 'This year India has launched 11 satellites, including nine from other countries—and it became the first nation to launch 10 satellites on one rocket.'¹⁰

Launch Vehicle Fleet

Geopolitical and economic compulsions during 1960s-1970s compelled India to initiate its own launch vehicle program.¹¹ During the first phase (1960s-1970s) the country successfully developed a sounding rockets program, and by the 1980s, research had yielded the reliable Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 and the more advanced Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), complete with operational supporting infrastructure.¹¹ ISRO further applied its energies to the advancement of launch vehicle technology resulting in the creation of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) technologies.¹¹

By 2007, the PSLV had launched 10 remote sensing satellites, carrying 6 foreign satellites as co-passenger payloads, with maximum payload of 1600 kg in Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO).¹¹ The GSLV series—capable of carrying heavier payloads weighing in excess of 2.5 tons—has also launched Geosynchronous satellites (GSAT) weighing up to 1950 kgs, in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).¹¹ ISRO is presently developing the GSLV Mk-3, capable of placing payloads ranging from 4 tons in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit and 10 tons in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).¹¹ ISRO has also embarked upon the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) project.¹¹

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, usually known by its abbreviation PSLV, is an expendable launch system operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into sun synchronous orbits, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV, commercially viable only from Russia. PSLV can also launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The reliability and versatility of the PSLV is proven by the fact that it has launched 30 spacecrafts (14 Indian and 16 from other countries) into a variety of orbits so far.¹² In April 2008, it successfully launched 10 satellites in one go, breaking a world record held by Russia.¹³

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle,usually known by its abbreviation GSLV, is an expendable launch system operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to enable India to launch its INSAT-type satellites into geostationary orbit and to make India less dependent on foreign rockets. At present, it is ISRO's heaviest satellite launch vehicle and is capable of putting a 2.5 ton satellite into Low Earth Orbit.

Earth Observation Satellites

India's first satellite, the Aryabhata was launched by the Soviets in 1975. This was followed by the Rohini series of experimental satellites which were built and launched indigenously. At present, ISRO operates a large number of earth observation satellites.

The INSAT series

INSAT or the Indian National Satellite System is a series of multipurpose Geo-Stationary satellites launched by ISRO to satisfy the telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology, and "search and rescue" needs of India. Commissioned in 1983, INSAT is the largest domestic communication system in the Asia-Pacific Region. It is a joint venture of the Department of Space, Department of Telecommunications, India Meteorological Department, All India Radio and Doordarshan. The overall coordination and management of INSAT system rests with the Secretary-level INSAT Coordination Committee.

The IRS series

Indian Remote Sensing satellites (IRS) are a series of Earth Observation satellites, built, launched and maintained by Indian Space Research Organisation of India as part of the Indian space program. The IRS series provides remote sensing services to the country. The Indian Remote Sensing Satellite system is the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites for civilian use in operation today in the world. All the satellites are placed in polar sun-synchronous orbit and provide data in a variety of spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions to enable several applications to be undertaken relevant to the national development.

Other satellites

ISRO has also launched a set of Geo-stationary experimental satellites known as the GSAT series. Kalpana-1 is the first dedicated meteorological satellite launched by Indian Space Research Organisation using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on September 12, 2002. The satellite was originally known as MetSat-1. In Feb 2003 it was renamed to Kalpana-1 by the then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in memory of Kalpana Chawla - a NASA astronaut who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Lunar and Interplanetary Missions

India's first mission beyond the Earth orbit was the Chandrayaan-1, a lunar spacecraft which successfully entered the lunar orbit on November 8, 2008. The mission is still ongoing. ISRO plans to follow up Chandrayaan-1 with Chandrayaan-2 and unmanned missions to Mars and Near-Earth objects like asteroids and comets.

Chandrayaan-1

Chandrayaan-1, (Sanskrit: चंद्रयान-१) is India's first mission to the moon launched by India's national space agency the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The unmanned lunar exploration mission includes a lunar orbiter and an impactor called the Moon Impact Probe. India launched the spacecraft by a modified version of the PSLV C11 on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The vehicle was successfully inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008. It carries high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, and soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over its two-year operational period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The polar regions are of special interest, as they might contain ice. The lunar mission carries five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies including NASA, ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, which were carried free of cost.

Human Spaceflight Program

The Indian Space Research Organization has proposed a crewed mission by 2015 and the proposal is still waiting formal Government approval. The Indian government has already allotted budget for pre-project initiatives. If realized in the stated time-frame, India will become only the 4th nation, after the USSR, USA and China to successfully carry out manned missions indigenously.

Technology Demonstration

The Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SCRE or more commonly SRE or SRE-1) is an Indian experimental spacecraft which was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The launch was conducted using the PSLV C7 rocket, along with three other satellites. It remained in orbit for 12 days before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere and splashing down into the Bay of Bengal.

The SRE 1 was designed to demonstrate the capability to recover an orbiting space capsule, and the technology of an orbiting platform for performing experiments in microgravity conditions. It was also intended to test reusable Thermal Protection System, navigation, guidance and control, hypersonic aero-thermodynamics, management of communication blackout, deceleration and flotation system and recovery operations.

ISRO also plans to launch SRE-2 and SRE-3 in near future to test advanced re-entry technology for futue manned missions.

Astronaut Training and other facilities

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will set up an astronaut training centre in Bangalore by 2012, to prepare personnel for all flights onboard the crew vehicle. The centre will train the selected astronauts in rescue and recovery operations, surviving in a zero gravity situation, study of radiation environment and for the long journey in the space through water simulation.

ISRO will build centrifugals to train the astronauts on the acceleration aspects when the vehicle zooms into the space and familiarize them with zero gravity conditions. It also plans to build a new launch pad as it has proposed to undertake a manned space mission by 2015. It would be the third launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, specifically for manned missions.

Development of Crew Vehicle

ISRO plans to develop an indigenous crew vehicle with the cooperation of the Russian Space Agency. The vehicle is to be similar to Soyuz but would be designed according to Indian requirements, which means having a large and independent orbital module. The re-entry module would be adopted from the planned ISRO Orbital Vehicle. The indigenous crew vehicle is slated to fly in 2015. It would be launched on ISRO's heavy-lift vehicle in development, GSLV Mk-3.

Field installations

Research facilities

Test facilities

Construction and launch facilities

Tracking and Control facilities

Human Resource Development

Commercial Wing

Vision for the Future

ISRO plans to launch a number of new generation Earth Observation Satellites in the near future. It will also undertake the development of new lauch vehicles and spacecraft. ISRO has stated that it will send unmanned missions to Mars and other Near-Earth Objects.

Indian Lunar Exploration Programme

Space Exploration

IRNSS

The Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system being developed by Indian Space Research Organisation which would be under total control of Indian government. The requirement of such a navigation system is driven by the fact that access to Global Navigation Satellite Systems like GPS are not guaranteed in hostile situations. ISRO plans to launch the constellation of satellites, beginning from 2010 and up to 2012.

Development of new Launch Vehicles

ISRO is currently developing two new generation lauch vehicles, which are the GSLV-Mk3 and the AVATAR RLV. These launch vehicles will increase ISRO's present launch capability and would provide a greater share of world satellite launch market to India.

Applications

With one of the largest satellite communication systems in the world applications like land management, water resources management, natural disasters forecasting, radio networking, weather forecasting, meteorological imaging and computer communication are used for practical purposes.¹⁹ Business, administrative services, and schemes such as the National Informatics Centre (NICNET) are direct beneficiaries of applied satellite technology.¹⁹ Dinshaw Mistry—on the subject of practical applications of the Indian space program—writes:

Institutions like the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the Indian Institute of Technology use satellites for scholarly applications.²¹ Between 1975–1976 India conducted its largest sociological program using space technology reaching 2400 villages through video programming in local languages aimed for educational development via ATS-6 technology developed by NASA.²² This experiment—named Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE)—conducted large scale video broadcasts resulting in significant improvement in rural education.²²

ISRO has applied its technology to telemedicine, directly connecting patients in rural areas to medical professionals in urban medical locations via satellites.²¹ Since high-quality healthcare is not universally available in some of the remote areas of India, the patients in remote areas are diagnosed and analyzed by doctors in urban centres in real time via video conferencing.²¹ The patient is then advised medicine and treatment by doctors not physically present in the remote areas.²¹ The patient is then treated by the staff at one of the 'super-specialty hospitals' under instructions from the doctor.²¹ Mobile telemedicine vans are also deployed to visit locations in far flung areas and provide diagnosis and support to patients.²¹

ISRO has also helped implement India's Biodiversity information system, completed in October 2002.²³ Nirupa Sen details the program: "Based on intensive field sampling and mapping using satellite remote sensing and geospatial modelling tools, maps have been made of vegetation cover on a 1 : 250,000 scale. This has been put together in a web-enabled database which links gene-level information of plant species with spatial information in a BIOSPEC database of the ecological hot spot regions, namely northeastern India, Western Ghats, Western Himalayas and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This has been made possible with collaboration between the Department of Biotechnology and ISRO."²³

The Indian IRS-P5 (CARTOSAT-1) was equipped with high resolution panchromatic equipment to enable it for cartographic purposes.²⁴ IRS-P5 (CARTOSAT-1) was followed by a more advanced model named IRS-P6 developed also for agricultural applications.²⁴ The CARTOSAT-2 project, equipped with single panchromatic camera which supported scene specific on-spot images, succeed the CARTOSAT-1 project.²⁵

Global Cooperation

People

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Daniel, 486
^ ^a ^b Daniel, 487
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Daniel, 488
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Daniel, 489
^ Khan, Sultanat Aisha (2006), "Russia, relations with", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 3) edited by Stanley Wolpert, 419-422, Thomson Gale: ISBN 0-684-31352-9.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Daniel, 490
^ ^a ^b "About ISRO", ISRO, Government of India.
^ Burleson, 136
^ In Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam (1999), his autobiography.
^ ^a ^b Hennock etc. (2008), "The Real Space Race Is In Asia", Newsweek.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Gupta, 1697
^ PSLV-C11 Successfully Launches Chandrayaan-1
^ "India sets its sights on the Moon". BBC (2008-10-21). Retrieved on 2008-10-23.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o India in Space", Science & Technology edited by N.N. Ojha, 142.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Space Research", Science and Technology in India edited by R.K. Suri and Kalapana Rajaram, 415.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Space Research", Science and Technology in India edited by R.K. Suri and Kalapana Rajaram, 414.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Space Research", Science and Technology in India edited by R.K. Suri and Kalapana Rajaram, 416.
^ http://www.itexaminer.com/isro-confirms-new-space-plans.aspx
^ ^a ^b Bhaskaranarayana, 1738–1746
^ Mistry, 94–95
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Bhaskaranarayana, 1744
^ ^a ^b Bhaskaranarayana, 1737
^ ^a ^b Sen, 490
^ ^a ^b Burleson, 136
^ Burleson, 143
^ ^a ^b ^c "Space Research", Science and Technology in India edited by R.K. Suri and Kalapana Rajaram, 447.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ketkar, Prafulla (2006), "European Union, Relations with (Science and technology)", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 2), edited by Stanley Wolpert, 48-51, Thomson Gale: ISBN 0-684-31351-0.
^ ^a ^b Daniel, 486-489
^ ""Vikram Sarabhai", Vigyan Prasar, Deprtment of Science and technology, Government of India.
^ ^a ^b Daniel, 486–490
^ ^a ^b Narasimha, 223
^ Narasimha, 223–225
^ ^a ^b "U.S. and Russian Human Space Flights: 1961–September 30, 1999", NASA, Government of the United States of America.
^ "Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma", National Defence Academy, Government of India.
^ "Raja Ramanna", Vigyan Prasar, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam", Vigyan Prasar, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "IAA Attributes the Von Karman Award for 2005 to Prof. Udipi Ramachandra Rao (India)", International Academy of Astronautics, October, 2005.
^ "K. Kasturirangan ", ISRO, Government of India.
^ Current Science (2004), 86 (7): 895-896, Bangalore: Indian Academy of Sciences.
^ ^a ^b Mohapatra, Satyen (2007), "Reaching for the moon", Hindustan Times.

Indian Space Research Organisation.html

Contents