Milestones of ISRO-Indian Space Research Organization

The Government of India set up Space Commission and Department of Space- DOS in June 1972. Indian Space Research Organisation- ISRO under DOS executes Space programme through its establishments located in different places in India.

Indian space programme has been driven by the vision of Dr Vikram Sarabhai who is considered as “The Father of Indian Space Programme.”

The prime objective of Indian Space Research Organization- ISRO is to develop space technology and its application to various national tasks. ISRO has established two major space systems
1. Indian National Satelite-INSAT for communication, television broadcasting and meteorological services
2. Indian Remote Sensing Satellites- IRS system for resources monitoring and management.
ISRO has developed two satellite launch vehicles, PSLV and GSLV, to place INSAT and IRS satellites in the required orbits.

Milestones of ISRO:-

• 1962:-Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) formed by the Department of Atomic Energy and work on establishing Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) started.

• 1963:-First sounding rocket launched from TERLS on November 21, 1963.

• 1965:-Space Science & Technology Centre (SSTC) established in Thumba.

• 1967:-Satellite Telecommunication Earth Station set up at Ahmedabad.

• 1968:-TERLS dedicated to the United Nations on February 2, 1968.

• 1969:-Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) formed under Department of Atomic Energy on August 15, 1969.

• 1972:-Space Commission and Department of Space set up on June 1, 1972. ISRO brought under DOS.

• 1972-1976:-Air-borne remote sensing experiments were conducted.

• 1975:-ISRO Became a Government Organisation from April 1, 1975. ISRO First Indian Satellite, Aryabhata, launched on April 19, 1975.

• 1975-1976:-Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) conducted.

• 1977:-Satellite Telecommunication Experiments Project (STEP) carried out.

• 1979:-Bhaskara-I, an experimental satellite for earth observations, launched on June 7, 1979.First Experimental launch of SLV-3 with Rohini Technology Payload on board on August 10, 1979. Satellite could not be placed in orbit.

• 1980:-Second Experimental launch of SLV-3, Rohini satellite successfully placed in orbit on July 18, 1980.

• 1981:-RS-D1 placed in orbit on May 31, 1981. First developmental launch of SLV-3. APPLE, an experimental geo-stationary communication satellite successfully launched on June 19, 1981. Bhaskara-II launched on November 20, 1981.

• 1982:-INSAT-1A launched on April 10, 1982. Deactivated on September 6, 1982.

• 1983:-Second developmental launch of SLV-3. RS-D2 placed in orbit on April 17, 1983. INSAT-1B, launched on August 30, 1983.

• 1984:-Indo-Soviet manned space mission in April 1984.

• 1987:-First developmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-1 satellite on board on March 24, 1987 . Satellite could not be placed in orbit.

• 1988:-Launch of first operational Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-1A on March 17,1988. Second developmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-2 on board on July 13, 1988. Satellite could not be placed in orbit1988. INSAT-1C launched on July 21, 1988. Abandoned in November 1989.

• 1990:- INSAT-1D launched on June 12, 1990.

• 1991: Second operational Remote Sensing satellite, IRS-1B, launched on August 29, 1991.

• 1992:- Third developmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-C on board on May 20, 1992. Satellite placed in orbit. INSAT-2A, the first satellite of the indigenously-built second-generation INSAT series, launched on July 10, 1992.

• 1993:- Satellite could not be placed in orbit. INSAT-2B, the second satellite in the INSAT-2 series, launched on July 23, 1993 .

First developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-1E on board on September 20, 1993.

• 1994:- Second developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-P2 on board on October 15, 1994. Satellite successfully placed in polar unsynchronous orbit.

• 1995:- INSAT-2C, the third satellite in the INSAT-2 series, launched on December 7, 1995 . Launch of third operational Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-1C on December 28, 1995 .

• 1996:- Third developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-P3 on board on March 21, 1996. Satellite placed in polar sunsynchronous orbit.

• 1997: First operational launch of PSLV with IRS-1D on board on September 29, 1997. Satellite placed in orbit. INSAT-2D, fourth satellite in the INSAT series, launched on June 4, 1997. Became inoperable on October 4, 1997. An in-orbit satellite, ARABSAT-1C, since renamed INSAT-2DT, was acquired in November 1997 to partly augment the INSAT system.

• 1998:- INSAT system capacity augmented with the readiness of INSAT-2DT acquired from ARABSAT in January 1998.

• 1999:- INSAT-2E, the last satellite in the multipurpose INSAT-2 series, launched by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana on April 3, 1999. Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-P4 (OCEANSAT), launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C2) along with Korean KITSAT-3 and German DLR-TUBSAT from Sriharikota on May 26, 1999.

• 2000:- INSAT-3B, the first satellite in the third generation INSAT-3 series, launched by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana on March 22, 2000.

• 2001:- The first developmental launch of GSLV-D1 with GSAT-1 on board from Sriharikota on April 18, 2001. ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C3, successfully launched three satellites — Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) of ISRO, BIRD of Germany and PROBA of Belgium – into their intended orbits on October 22, 2001.

• 2002:- Successful launch of INSAT-3C by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana, on January 24, 2002. ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C4, successfully launched KALPANA-1 satellite from Sriharikota on September 12, 2002.

• 2003:-Successful launch of INSAT-3A by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana, on April 10, 2003.The Second developmental launch of GSLV-D2 with GSAT-2 on board from Sriharikota on May 8, 2003.Successful launch of INSAT-3E by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana on September 28, 2003.ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C5, successfully launched RESOURCESAT-1 (IRS-P6) satellite from Sriharikota onOctober 17, 2003.

• 2004:- The first operational flight of GSLV (GSLV-F01) successfully launched EDUSAT from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota on September 20, 2004.

• 2005:- ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C6, successfully launched CARTOSAT-1 and HAMSAT satellites from Sriharikota on May 5, 2005. Second operational flight of GSLV (GSLV-F02) from SDSC SHAR with INSAT-4C on board on July 10, 2006. Satellite could not be placed in orbit. Successful launch of INSAT-4A by Ariane from Kourou French Guyana on December 22, 2005.

• 2007:- ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C7 successfully launches four satellites – India’s CARTOSAT-2 and Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) and Indonesia’s LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina’s PEHUENSAT-1on January 10, 2007. Successful recovery of SRE-1 after manoeuvring it to reenter the earth’s atmosphere and descend over the Bay of Bengal about 140 km east of Sriharikota on January 22, 2007. Successful launch of INSAT-4B by Ariane-5 from Kourou French Guyana on March 12, 2007. ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C8, successfully launched Italian astronomical satellite, AGILE from Sriharikota on April 23, 2007. Successful launch of of GSLV (GSLV-F04) with INSAT-4CR on board from SDSC SHAR on September 2, 2007.

• 2008:- PSLV-C10 successfully launched TECSAR satellite under a commercial contract with Antrix Corporation on January 21, 2008. PSLV-C9 successfully launched CARTOSAT-2A, IMS-1 and 8 foreign nano satellites from Sriharikota on April 28, 2008.PSLV-C11 successfully launched “CHANDRAYAAN-1” from Sriharikota on October 22, 2008.