The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is the pioneer space exploration agency of the Government of India, headquartered at Bengaluru. ISRO was formed in 1969 with a vision to develop and harness space technology in national development, while pursuing planetary exploration and space science research. ISRO replaced its predecessor, INCOSPAR (Indian National Committee for Space Research), established in 1962 by India’s first Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and scientist Vikram Sarabhai, considered amongst the founding fathers of Indian space program.
ISRO, by successfully demonstrating its unique and cost-effective technologies, has gained place among the elite space agencies in the world over the years. The first Indian satellite, Aryabhata, was built by the ISRO and launched with the help of the Soviet Union on April 19, 1975. The year 1980 marked the launch of Rohini, which was the first satellite to be successfully placed in the orbit by SLV-3, an Indian made launch vehicle. Subsequently with more efforts, two other rockets were developed by ISRO: the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) for placing satellites into polar orbits and the GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) for placing satellites into geostationary orbits. Both the rockets have successfully launched several earth observation and communication satellites for India as well as other countries.
Indigenous satellite navigation systems like IRNSS and GAGAN have also been deployed. In January 2014, ISRO used an indigenously built cryogenic engine for a GSLV-D5 launch of the GSAT-14 satellite making it one of the only six countries in the world to develop a cryogenic technology. Most recent and remarkable space probes of ISRO include Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan-1) and ASTROSAT space observatory. The success of the Mars Orbiter Mission made India only the fourth country in the world to reach the Martian orbit.
Credit : The Economic Times
Picture Credit : Google
