Indian Space Technology: If you want to know about space technology, then let us tell you the space history of India. Know what India has achieved in this field since independence till date.
History of Indian Space Technology: India became independent on August 15, 1947. From that time till today, India’s space history has been quite spectacular. India has progressed rapidly in its space programs and has touched many new milestones in development.
During this period, Indian scientists have achieved success ranging from carrying the first satellite on a bicycle in 1969, reaching Mars Mission in the first attempt in 2014, and being the first to reach the South Pole of the Moon in 2023. . In today’s era, India has proved its mettle against the whole world in the field of space, but the beginning of this journey was not easy. Let us tell you the history of Indian space programs.
Why and when was the Indian space mission started?
The Cold War had started between America and the Soviet Union since the time of India’s independence. During this Cold War, there was a race between these two countries to reach space first. Moving ahead in this race, in 1957, the Soviet Union (present-day Russia) launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1.
At that time, India was facing economic crisis, but still the first Prime Minister of the country, understanding the importance of development in science and space sector, passed a scientific policy resolution for the first time in the Parliament House, just one year after the launch of Sputnik-1. Did. At that time, Prime Minister Nehru had handed over the responsibility of space exploration to the Department of Atomic Energy, which was headed by India’s senior nuclear physicist Homi Jehangir Bhabha.
When did India start space exploration?
In 1962, Bhabha created the Indian Committee for Space Research (INCSPER), with Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai as its chairman. It was later changed to Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR). It was Sarabhai who started space exploration in India. After the India-China war at that time, hunger had spread in India, but still India had not stopped dreaming of space. Just a few years later, India started launching many rockets from the Thumba Rocket Launching Station in Kerala.
When was ISRO created?
In 1963, Sarabhai formed the Space Science and Technology Center (SSTC) near Thumba. India’s space program started moving forward under the leadership of Vikram Sarabhai in this center. In 1969, Indira Gandhi’s government formed ISRO by developing the old space research centre, Incospar.
Sarabhai created a separate ministry for space exploration
ISRO was initially kept under the Department of Atomic Energy, but on the recommendation of Vikram Sarabhai, the Government of India created a separate ministry of the Indian Space Department in 1972, which was supervised by the Prime Minister himself.
India launched its first satellite with the help of Russia
After that, ISRO launched its first satellite Aryabhatta into space in 1975 with the help of the Soviet Union’s Intercosmos program. In 1980, India succeeded in building its own vehicle for launching satellites – Satellite Launch Vehicle i.e. SLV.
Through this first SLV, India launched the Rohini Series-1 satellite into the Earth’s orbit in 1980 itself, and became the seventh country in the world to do so. The credit for this success goes to former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to go to space
After this ISRO made many developments one after the other. From that time ISRO started working on liquid fuel and solid fuel rocket engines. In 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian person to go to space. He went to space through a rocket of the Soviet Union, and from there he told the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that, “Saare Jahan Se Accha Hindustan Hamara.”
India made the first PSLV in 1990
In 1990, ISRO built the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle i.e. PSLV, which was a huge success. Through this PSLV, India launched the Chandrayaan-1 mission in 2008, which, apart from scientific instruments, also carried the Indian national flag i.e. the tricolor to the Moon. Chandrayaan-1 explored the Moon and told the world that water is present on the Moon.
After that, in 2014, the same PSLV created a new history by sending India’s Mangalyaan into the orbit of Mars in its first attempt. After this, in 2017, ISRO improved PSLV and sent 104 satellites into space and created a new world record.
India made the first GSLV in 2001
While making PSLV itself, Indian scientists had understood that the weight of satellites would increase in future, and they would not be able to send them into space through PSLV, hence the scientists started making Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle i.e. GSLV in 2001.
In 2014, India built an advanced version of the GSLV, the GSLV Mk3, which has given India the capability to launch even larger satellites and aircraft. In March 2019, India launched its first anti-satellite mission Shakti.
Chandrayaan-2 launched in 2019
In July 2019, India launched Chandrayaan-2, which was to land on the South Pole of the Moon and search for all the resources of life on the Moon including water, but at a distance of just 2.1 kilometers from the lunar surface, Indian scientists Chandrayaan-2. Contact was lost and India’s mission was not successful.
Chandrayaan-3 successfully lands on Moon’s south pole in 2023
However, India did not accept defeat. India tried again and in July 2023, launched Chandrayaan-3, which successfully landed on the Moon’s south pole on 23 August 2023. With this, India became the first country in the world to reach the other side of the Moon i.e. the South Pole. After successfully reaching the South Pole of the Moon, Chandrayaan-3 is sending all the information about the other side of the Moon to India.
India’s first solar mission
India was not limited to just the moon. India launched its first solar mission soon after successfully landing a satellite on the Moon’s south pole for the first time. On September 2, 2023, India sent its first solar mission Aditya L1 towards the Sun. This Indian satellite kept running towards the Sun for about 4 months.
On January 6, 2024, India’s first satellite to do research on the Sun, Aditya-L1 reached its final destination in space, where it will be closest to the Sun and will continuously monitor the Sun’s activities while remaining there. The place where this Indian spacecraft has reached now is called Lagrange point 1. At present Aditya L-1 is about 1499908.61 i.e. 14 lakh kilometers away from the Earth, which is only 1% of the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the mission was “a historic” and “extraordinary achievement”.
Contribution of space exploration in India’s development
India launched INSAT-1B in 1983 and started developing the Indian National Satellite System. It has played a major role in the fields of telecommunication, television broadcasting, weather forecasting and disaster management. Through this, telephone and TV could reach every village in India.
In 1999, when the US refused to help with GPS technology during the Kargil war, India started developing its own navigation system. Under this, India created the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. It is known as NavIC. It monitors an area up to 1500 kilometers around India. It helped the common people as well as the Indian forces.
India’s cheap space missions
Indian space agency ISRO has achieved all these achievements in a very low budget. For example, India had made the Mangalyaan mission successful in just 74 million dollars, whereas America’s NASA had to spend 671 million dollars for the same work. Apart from this, India had also made Chandrayaan Mission successful with less money than the budget of Interstellar, a space film made in Hollywood.
List of all space missions of India till date
1975: Aryabhata – Satellite
1980: Rohini Satellite Series (RS-1) – Satellite
1983: INSAT-1B Communication – Satellite
1987: SROSS Series (SROSS-1) – Satellite
1993: IRS-1E – To observe Earth (Earth Observation)
1999: INSAT-2E – Communication Satellite
2001: GSAT-1 – Communication Satellite
2005: Cartosat-1 – To observe the Earth (Earth Observation)
2008: Chandrayaan-1 – To explore the moon (Lunar Exploration)
2013: Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) – Mars Exploration to discover Mars
2014: IRNSS-1C – for navigation
2015: Astrosat – for Space Observatory
2016: GSAT-18 – Communication Satellite
2017: Cartosat-2 – To observe Earth (Earth Observation)
2018: GSAT-18 – Communication Satellite
2019: Chandrayaan-2 – To explore the moon (Lunar Exploration)
2020: GSAT-30 – Communication Satellite
2021: PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 – (PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1) – To launch satellite (Satellite Launch)
2022: GSAT-30 – For Communication Satellite
2023: LVM3-M3/OneWeb India-1 Mission – For Satellite Launch
2023: Chandrayaan-3 – To explore the moon (Lunar Exploration)
2023: Aditya L-1 – For Solar Exploration
2024: X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) – for satellite launch
conclusion
After independence, the people of India had to yearn for even the basic needs like food, clothing and shelter. Starting space programs in such circumstances, and taking them so far in just 80 years, is a huge achievement. Certainly, most of the credit for all these successes goes to India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Vikram Sarabhai, and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.