india in space essay

Essay on India in Space

Students are often asked to write an essay on India in Space in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on India in Space

Introduction.

India’s journey in space research began in 1962 with the Indian National Committee for Space Research. Its mission: to use space technology for national development.

ISRO’s Formation

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was formed in 1969. It developed India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, launched by the Soviet Union in 1975.

Moon and Mars Missions

India made history with the Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, discovering water on the moon. In 2014, the Mars Orbiter Mission made India the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit.

Future Plans

ISRO plans to explore Venus and the Sun’s corona, demonstrating India’s growing prowess in space.

250 Words Essay on India in Space

Introduction to india’s space journey.

India’s foray into space research and exploration has been a testament to its scientific prowess and determination. Initiated in 1962 with the formation of the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), it has grown into a full-fledged space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Major Milestones in India’s Space Exploration

India’s journey in space exploration has been marked by significant milestones. The launch of the first satellite, Aryabhata, in 1975 marked the beginning of India’s independent space journey. However, the launch of Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, which discovered water molecules on the moon, and the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in 2013, which made India the first Asian country to reach Martian orbit, are testaments to the country’s advanced scientific capabilities.

Current Endeavours and Future Prospects

Currently, India is working on several ambitious projects. Gaganyaan, India’s first manned space mission, aims to send astronauts into space by 2022. The Aditya-L1 mission, set for 2022, intends to study the Sun’s corona.

India’s space journey is not only about exploring the cosmos but also about leveraging space technology for societal benefits. With advancements in communication satellites, remote sensing, and satellite navigation, India is using space technology for disaster management, weather forecasting, telemedicine, and education.

India’s space journey has been a blend of scientific curiosity, national pride, and societal development. With its future missions, India is set to further its reputation as a major player in global space research and exploration. The journey of India in space is a testament to the power of a vision, scientific rigor, and indomitable determination.

500 Words Essay on India in Space

India’s journey into space is a fascinating narrative of ambition, determination, and scientific advancement. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), established in 1969, has been the driving force behind India’s space exploration, transforming the nation from a developing country to a significant player in the global space community.

ISRO’s Early Years and Achievements

ISRO’s initial years were marked by resource constraints and technological limitations. Despite these challenges, the organization launched its first satellite, Aryabhata, in 1975, marking a significant milestone in India’s space journey. The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) in 1975-76, which brought educational programs to rural areas, and the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system, launched in 1983 for telecommunication and broadcasting services, showcased the potential of space technology for societal benefits.

Technological Advancements and Mars Mission

ISRO’s technological prowess increased over the decades, culminating in the successful launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyaan, in 2013. This mission made India the first Asian country to reach Mars and the first in the world to do so on its maiden attempt. The mission was not merely a demonstration of India’s technological capabilities, but it also contributed to the global understanding of Mars, with findings about the planet’s atmosphere and surface.

Chandrayaan Missions and Lunar Exploration

India’s lunar exploration program, Chandrayaan, has also received international acclaim. Chandrayaan-1, launched in 2008, made a significant discovery of water molecules on the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-2, despite a setback in the soft landing attempt, has provided valuable data about the lunar surface and will pave the way for future missions.

The Commercial Aspect: Antrix Corporation

Recognizing the commercial potential of space technology, ISRO established Antrix Corporation in 1992. Antrix has successfully commercialized ISRO’s capabilities in satellite technology and launch services, providing cost-effective solutions to international clients and contributing to the global space economy.

Future Prospects: Gaganyaan and Beyond

ISRO’s future plans include the ambitious Gaganyaan mission, which aims to send Indian astronauts to space by 2022. This mission will significantly enhance India’s position in the global space community. Furthermore, ISRO’s plans for exploring Venus and the Sun’s corona indicate that India’s space journey is far from over.

India’s space journey represents a blend of scientific curiosity, technological prowess, and a vision for societal development. It is a testament to the nation’s capabilities and potential. As India continues to explore the vast expanse of space, it not only contributes to global scientific knowledge but also inspires future generations to dream big and strive for excellence.

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The Planetary Society • Feb 13, 2024

The history and motivations behind India's growing space program

In 2023, India became the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon. The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission helped establish India as a capable space power and bolstered its growing space ambitions.

The history of India's space program is in many ways the inverse of the history of the U.S. and Russia’s programs. While these superpowers were racing to outdo each other with symbolic, high-profile achievements that culminated in the Apollo Moon landings, India focused on the practical and immediate benefits of space.

That has recently started to change. Buoyed by the success of Chandrayaan-3 and a desire to compete with China, India has announced ambitious human spaceflight plans that include space stations and a Moon landing.

Gurbir Singh joined us on Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition on Jan. 5, 2024 to talk about the history and motivations behind India’s space program. Singh is the author of The Indian Space Programme: India's Incredible Journey from the Third World towards the First.

The original transcript has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Casey Dreier: Gurbir Singh, thank you so much for joining us on Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition this month. I'm happy you're here.

Gurbir Singh: Well, thanks very much for reaching out. I'm really delighted to be here.

Casey Dreier: This is a big topic, so we might as well start at the beginning. Why did India start a space program in 1963?

Gurbir Singh: I use the launch of the very first rocket from Indian soil as a marker for the start of the program. That was a suborbital rocket launched from southern India. The payload was a small sodium capsule, which diffused at an altitude of about 150 kilometers. Watching how that payload dispersed was the experiment. That started what we today call the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO.

At that point India had been independent [from the British] for about a decade and a half, and the space program was part of the nation-building activities that were taking place. At that time, there were post-World War II developments in England and most of Europe, such as televisions, telephones, and commercial air flights. These were really becoming available to just about everybody.

The space age had started with the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and Yuri Gagarin's flight in 1961. The Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, really believed in science. He believed that the new nation of India, independent India, should be forged on what he called the scientific temper, the temperament of science. So he put science at the forefront, and that's really why space was almost inevitable.

Casey Dreier: What's interesting to me is that India didn’t create this as a Cold War competition. It wasn’t throwing its hat in to compete directly, or to establish itself as a regional power. There were internal and domestic reasons that it wanted to establish a space capability. Is that an accurate way to think of this?

Gurbir Singh: There is a very long tradition of science in Indian history. By the time India became independent, there were many successful Indian scientists of international repute, such as Vikram Sarabhai, who's considered as the father of the Indian space program. They were bright, gifted, and came from very successful industrial families. They had a lot of cash, and they also had contacts in high society. They knew the prime minister. So they were moving in the right circles. And I think that synergy helped to kickstart India in the direction it went.

Casey Dreier: You write that, unlike the space programs being established at the time in the U.S. and Soviet Union, India’s program from the outset was wholly non-military and built to meet the social needs of its huge population. It was really almost inwardly directed as a modernizing force rather than a demonstration of technological competition or global hegemony.

Gurbir Singh: Having lived under suppression, under the control of another nation, was seen as a national humiliation. India did not want to return to that. There was a desire for self-sufficiency rather than some sort of hegemony or sense of superiority over other countries. India is probably the only country with a space program which had entirely non-military foundations, although since then, it has grown to include military aspects.

Casey Dreier: For the first few decades, ISRO focused on servicing the Indian population. But then, in the 1990s, there’s a proposal to send the Chandrayaan-1 scientific mission to the Moon. What caused this new era of exploration to develop within ISRO?

Gurbir Singh: The Moon mission and many other ISRO space programs have been influenced by similar programs in China. In 2003, China had its first human spaceflight success. In 2007, they sent a spacecraft to the Moon. They have built their own space stations. So India has been following in China’s footsteps, just like what happened in the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

If China had not gone to the Moon, India wouldn't have gone to the Moon. There's this wonderful quote in a book by the Soviet engineer Boris Chertok where he says that if there hadn't been a Gagarin, there wouldn’t have been an Armstrong.

Casey Dreier: You write that in 2013, India went to Mars with the Mars Orbiter Mission Mangalyaan because both Japan and China had tried and failed. After Mangalyaan, China followed up with its own Tianwen mission and successfully landed. Are we seeing an increase in this tit-for-tat competition?

Gurbir Singh: India went to Mars in 2013 because there was a Chinese spacecraft on board the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft launched by Russia in 2011. That spacecraft never left Earth orbit and failed. India realized that there would be an opportunity to launch a small mission to Mars in 2013, and get there before China.

The spacecraft only had five instruments, which was very stark. A few years after the ISRO chairman had served his time and wrote a book, he admitted that the whole reason why India went to Mars was because China failed, and the whole intention was to be able to say that India got to Mars before China.

We saw this behavior during the Cold War with Sputnik, Gagarin, and Valentina Tereshkova. Every country's trying to wave a flag and say, “we did this.” There's nothing politicians like more than that.

Casey Dreier: Let's talk about the Modi government's relationship to space. Would you characterize that as a natural extension of the previous government's approach to ISRO and space, or is there something different in their approach and embrace of ISRO and its ambitions?

Gurbir Singh: India has always treated ISRO as the goose that lays the golden eggs. It's something all political parties can benefit from, because apart from the fact that it allows the incumbent prime minister to wave India's flag at every ISRO success, ISRO actually is one of the more successful and competent departments of the government. It's traditionally been supported throughout India's history, regardless of the government.

In prime minister Modi's case, during the Chandrayaan-3 touchdown, he was in a live stream split screen. You could see the lander coming into land, and Modi was there waving a small Indian flag. Immediately after the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3, chairman Somanath got onto the pedestal and said, "India is on the Moon." And then he handed the microphone to the prime minister. I hadn't appreciated what an opportunity he would have to address an international audience. He made a 10-minute speech and said all the things that any politician would say.

Casey Dreier: You wrote in your 2017 book that the Modi government is a dynamic government with a nationalist and aggressive economic agenda, and it’s been positioning itself to use the Indian space program as an instrument for regional influence. Has that played out in the way that you thought it would?

Gurbir Singh: The desire for India to be a regional superpower hasn't quite worked out, mainly because India hoped to capture the launch market for nearby countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. But the growth in the international commercial space sector has meant that it's actually quite practical and cost-effective for these countries not to go to the nearest provider, India.

India’s cadence of launches is still very low. Its highest launch rate to Earth orbit or beyond has been seven launches in a year. This year alone, China has already achieved 47, and the U.S. more than 100. I think this has been driving the political changes that's opened up the commercial space sector in India.

The main thing that's been preoccupying ISRO is the Gaganyaan program. India has been developing a launch abort system, parachutes, and capsule recovery techniques. The recent signing of the Artemis Accords and the agreement to have an Indian astronaut go to the International Space Station with NASA will help accelerate the Gaganyaan program. There will be various deals of technology transfer and systems components being sold to India as a result of the collaborative arrangements that are now in place.

Casey Dreier: If the U.S. is increasingly seeing China as a competitive nation in space, then it starts to become a U.S. interest to support India as a backstop against regional influence from China.

Gurbir Singh: That's spot on, and really the reason why India signed the Artemis Accords.

The Artemis Accords would not have been as significant or profound if the International Lunar Research Station did not exist. The International Lunar Research Station is essentially an organization that China and Russia established, but now really China's running with it. The U.S. offered India a really good deal because they didn't want India to go to the International Lunar Research Station.

I think the main reason why India signed is because as part of this agreement, your president offered the Indian prime minister to come speak to a joint assembly of Congress. Any prime minister, especially one who has an election coming up next year, is not going to let that go. He had, I think, a four-day state visit to the U.S. and it's that package deal that made India sign the Artemis Accords.

Casey Dreier: In the past few years, ISRO has opened up to commercial space flight, started a serious effort for human spaceflight, announced an Indian space station, and is aiming for the Moon by 2040. This strikes me as a profound transformation of the role ISRO is going to play in Indian geopolitics.

It seems like the organization has a huge amount of capability to do things, but it's also struggling with capacity. Does that strike you as the biggest challenge facing ISRO and the Indian space community?

Gurbir Singh: I think a lack of capacity has been something that many previous ISRO chairs have identified, and that’s been the motivating factor for opening up the private space sector.

As a result of new space policies, about 200 startup space companies are now operating in India. I think this is where the future of Indian space activities lies: with ISRO helping startups and being supported by startups.

Casey Dreier: I saw that ISRO is facing a budget cut from the Modi government despite all these new ambitions being proposed. What does that tell you about the political commitment to the Indian space program?

Gurbir Singh: Generally, over the last decade or so, ISRO's budget has been increasing. It's at about one-and-a-quarter to one-and-a-half billion U.S. dollars annually. The Gaganyaan program itself, just as a standalone, multi-year program, has been awarded about one billion U.S. dollars. And there was some unspent budget from 2020 and 2021, when not much happened. The Indian economy is doing really well relative to many other Western countries. Economic growth this coming year should lead to a budget increase in the next year.

Casey Dreier: Gurbir Singh is the author of The Indian Space Programme, a book that I really enjoyed and highly recommend to anyone fascinated by this topic. Gurbir, how can people find you online?

Gurbir Singh: The web address for me is gurbir.co.uk , and if anybody's interested in my podcast, I do that on astrotalkuk.org .

Casey Dreier: Thank you so much for being here this month. I hope to have you back in the future.

Gurbir Singh: Great talking to you.

Listen to the full interview on Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition .

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Why does India want to be a space power? Chandrayaan-3 and the politics of India’s space programme

With its chandrayaan-3 mission, india has become the fourth nation to land on the moon. dimitrios stroikos has been exploring the complexities around the international politics of space, with a specific focus on china and india as rising powers, and the connections between power, technology and modernity. he sets out how india’s space programme has developed, and why its latest mission is largely a reflection of its great power aspirations..

On 14 July 2023, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in southern India that sent India’s third lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-3 , consisting of a propulsion module, a lander and a rover. The lander touched down on the surface of the moon on 23 August 2023, making India the fourth country in the world, after the United States, the Soviet Union and China, to carry out a soft landing on the moon.

According to ISRO , the three main goals of the mission were: 1) achieving a soft landing on the lunar surface; 2) realising rover roving on the lunar terrain; and 3) carrying out in-situ experiments.

After landing near the south pole region, Chandrayaan-3’s lander deployed a rover to perform in-situ analysis of the lunar surface. As outlined by ISRO, the lander and the rover have scientific payloads to explore the lunar surface, collect data and perform various experiments. From a scientific point of view, such a mission is important because the south pole region remains underexplored, and thus has the potential for scientific discoveries . For example, it is believed that this region of the moon might contain deposits of ice water. The possibility of the presence of ice water on the moon has already attracted the interest of other space agencies and private companies, especially since the extraction and use of water from the moon could support the feasibility of prolonged lunar missions and serve as a potential stepping stone towards Mars and other missions venturing deeper in space.

But while the possibilities of such discoveries hold great potential for whichever nation makes them and can contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge, as we shall see, scientific research is just one of the reasons driving India’s vigorous space endeavour.

Science alone is not usually sufficient to explain such activities. Broader political considerations and strategic dynamics may be equally or even more important drivers behind India’s forays in space and the Chandrayaan programme in particular.

More specifically, Chandrayaan-3 is not India’s first attempt at soft landing on the moon. It is essentially a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2 , which was launched in July 2019 and was designed to explore the lunar surface near the south pole. Chandrayaan-2 consisted of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, but it was considered a partial success . Although the lander was successfully separated from the orbiter, due to a communication breakdown it had a hard landing  500 metres from the designated site on the lunar surface in September 2019. However, since 2019 the orbiter has continued to operate successfully, providing valuable data about the moon, and it will also support the latest mission.

Chandrayaan-3 also comes roughly 15 years after India’s first lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-1 , which was launched in October 2008 with the goal of mapping the lunar surface. Apart from five Indian payloads, the spacecraft carried instruments from NASA, British, German and Swedish research institutes (through the European Space Agency), and Bulgaria. As such, the mission was also an example of international scientific cooperation. Eventually, Chandrayaan-1 encountered technical hurdles when ISRO lost communication with the spacecraft and the mission had to end prematurely. Still, it was considered a remarkable success, not least because data gathered from one of the NASA instruments carried on the Chandrayaan-1 mission found clear evidence of water molecules on the moon.

The international politics of outer space

Chris Alden and Dimitrios Stroikos explore the complexities around the international politics of space, addressing topics such as: the challenges underpinning the international politics of space, state and non-state engagement in space activities.

Explaining Chandrayaan and India’s space programme

Despite the fact that India has one of the world’s oldest space programmes, established in the early 1960s, the focus has been on the use of space for socio-economic development . To this end, priority was given to the development of space applications, such as communications, remote sending and meteorology, that could provide tangible practical benefits tailored to the needs of a developing and large country. This developmental rationale has been associated with the vision of Dr Vikram Sarabhai , who is considered the ‘‘father’’ of India’s space programme and was one of the most influential and respected scientists in post-independence India. Although Sarabhai was a keen supporter of the use of space technology as a way of leapfrogging some of the stages of social and economic development, he was famously against highly visible space stunts for the sake of prestige and news headlines that offered little in economic and social terms.

It was against this backdrop that Chandrayaan-1, India’s first ever space exploration mission, signalled a shift towards highly visible space projects, which seemed to be at odds with India’s traditional developmental rationale. Further reflecting this reorientation of India’s space effort, in addition to the Chandrayaan lunar programme, other notable examples include the 2013 Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) , also called Mangalyaan , and plans for India’s first human spaceflight mission, the Gaganyaan programme , which is targeted to be launched within the next few years.

As far as India is concerned, the recent focus on space exploration can largely be seen as a response to China’s emergence as a great space power.

The China factor and the quest for great power status in space

What explains this change in India’s space programme? To be sure, the potential scientific benefits of lunar missions can be significant. What is more, I have long argued that scientific internationalism has been a key feature of space activities from the beginning of the Space Age. However, science alone is not usually sufficient to explain such activities. Broader political considerations and strategic dynamics may be equally or even more important drivers behind India’s forays in space and the Chandrayaan programme in particular.

A number of observations are worth making here. First, it is useful to recognise from the outset that international imperatives have rendered space a complex domain of international relations amid a surge of interest in the use of space for military, civilian and commercial purposes. As far as India is concerned, the recent focus on space exploration can largely be seen as a response to China’s emergence as a great space power , manifested not only in a series of remarkable Chinese space achievements, but also in the ways in which Beijing uses its space programme as a foreign policy and diplomacy tool . While India’s competition with China in space increasingly involves a military component , high-profile exploration projects are part of the contest for leadership , influence and soft power in Asia, contributing to the notion of an Asian space race .

Highly visible technoscientific projects serve as markers of power, status and modernity, a practice rooted in the 19th century.

Second, and related to the previous point, underlying India’s interest in lunar exploration is its great power aspirations . Highly visible technoscientific projects serve as markers of power, status and modernity, a practice rooted in the 19th century when technoscientific advancement emerged as a standard of “civilisation” demarcating the “society of civilised states” from non-European societies through a “techno-scientific orientalist” discourse. In this way, the space programme can be understood as a powerful symbol of postcolonial India’s modernity, statehood, and national prestige . From this perspective, the pursuit of the Chandrayaan lunar programme is part of India’s effort to climb up the ladder to the top tier of the hierarchical global space order and have a bigger “seat at the table’’ of space affairs.

Domestic influences

The role of domestic politics should also be acknowledged. For example, India’s space programme is an important source of national pride and prestige, and thus Indian leaders, including the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are keen to leverage the country's achievements in space to bolster the legitimacy of their governments whenever an opportunity arises. At the same time, powerful institutions, such as ISRO, have their own organisational and bureaucratic interests that compel them to push for highly visible projects to gain political approval. Finally, apart from foreign policy and military spin-offs due to the inherent dual-use nature of space technology, Chandrayaan-3 will help to inculcate and attract young talent in space science and showcase India’s vigorous private space sector , as this is the first time that ISRO has partnered in a major mission with the private space industry.

Consequently, and given the technical problems experienced by India's previous lunar mission, the stakes for Chandrayaan-3 could not be higher. Regardless of the outcome of Chandrayaan-3, however, the success of India’s lunar programme hinges on more than simply scientific gains, encompassing broader political and strategic considerations that will continue to animate India’s space ambitions.

" International Relations and Outer Space " by Dr Dimitrios Stroikos is published by the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. 

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LSE Fellow, Department of International Relations, LSE

Dr Dimitrios Stroikos is an LSE Fellow in the Department of International Relations at LSE and Head of the Space Policy Programme at LSE IDEAS. He is also the Editor-in-chief of Space Policy: an International Journal, hosted by LSE IDEAS.

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Shiv Shakti —

India’s accomplishments in space are getting more impressive, these images from the moon are a crowning achievement for india's space program..

Stephen Clark - Sep 1, 2023 12:32 am UTC

It's been more than a week since India's Chandrayaan 3 mission landed on the Moon, and it's a good time to assess where the world's most populous nation stands relative to other global space powers.

The successful arrival of the Chandrayaan 3 mission's Vikram lander on the Moon made India the first country besides China to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface since 1976, following a series of failed landings by private organizations and India itself four years ago. And it made India just the fourth nation overall to achieve this feat.

Since the landing of Chandrayaan 3 on August 23, India has released some early findings from the lander and its mobile rover, named Pragyan, along with photos of the vehicles exploring the Moon's alien charcoal-color landscape.

The Moon landing is just the latest in a string of successes in space for India, which has a thriving rocket program with a family of four launch vehicles, its own regional satellite navigation network, and nearly 10 years ago sent an orbiter to Mars. If India can notch another success in its space program in the next few years, the country could become the fourth nation capable of sending its astronauts into low-Earth orbit.

India is still well behind the space programs of the United States and China, but one could argue India has moved closer to Europe and Russia and could be on par with Japan when you take into account several factors: access to space, space exploration, military space projects, and applications like communications, navigation, and remote sensing from orbit.

Among the space powers considered here, India has the lowest human development index, a measure of social factors such as quality of life, income, and education. But its space program is a point of national pride, and Narendra Modi, India's nationalist prime minister, has made a point to associate himself with Indian successes in space.

Those successes have come on a shoestring budget. The Indian government this year is allocating $1.52 billion to space efforts, and India developed and launched Chandrayaan 3 for less than $100 million, lower than the cost of many blockbuster Hollywood films.

“I’ve described India as a sleeping giant and one that is quickly awakening," said Mike Gold, an attorney and space industry official who previously led NASA's space policy office. "India is absolutely vital to global space development... since the country is active with lunar programs, Martian programs, and now even human spaceflight.”

Since the landing of Chandrayaan 3, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)—India's space agency—has released a handful of images, including a black-and-white shot of the stationary SUV-size Vikram lander taken by the Pragyan rover. There's also a video, shown below, of the Pragyan rover rolling down the ramp from the Vikram lander in the hours after arriving on the Moon on August 23.

So far, ISRO hasn't been releasing all of the pictures taken by the rover and lander on the Moon, and the Indian space agency hasn't posted many images on its website, preferring to share them on social media. Let's hope Indian officials develop a better way of releasing high-resolution imagery from Chandrayaan 3 and future deep space probes.

But it's always exciting to see a place human eyes have never seen before, and India's triumph with Chandrayaan 3 is worth celebrating.

In a visit with Indian space scientists in Bangalore last week, Modi announced the Chandrayaan 3 landing site would be named Shiv Shakti Point, a reference to Shiva, a principal deity in Hinduism, and Shakti, which honors the role of women scientists on the mission.

The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover settled onto a landing site closer to the Moon's south pole than any previous lunar lander. Early science results from the mission include the detection of a seismic "event" on the Moon, and the first measurements of the plasma environment near the lunar surface close to the south pole.

"These quantitative measurements potentially assist in mitigating the noise that lunar plasma introduces into radio wave communication. Also, they could contribute to the enhanced designs for upcoming lunar visitors," ISRO said.

Instruments on the rover have detected sulfur in the lunar crust at the landing site. "This finding... compels scientists to develop fresh explanations for the source of sulfur in the area," ISRO said, adding that the element could be intrinsic to the landing site or may have been produced by an ancient volcanic eruption or an asteroid or cometary impact.

The Times of India reported this week that Indian engineers are increasingly optimistic that the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover could wake up and continue their mission after the upcoming two-week-long lunar night. When the Sun sets at the landing site next week, the two vehicles will hibernate as temperatures plummet to minus 333° Fahrenheit (minus 203° Celsius).

The original design life of the lander and rover was to operate for one lunar day, or 14 Earth days, but assuming electronics and batteries hold up to the frigid conditions, there's a chance the vehicles will automatically wake up when rays of sunlight again fall on their solar panels in mid-September.

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India’s Space Exploration Affairs Essay

Ever since the early 1960s when the first manned space mission was successfully accomplished, space exploration has become easier nowadays. Even though much has been achieved in space exploration since then, humans’ desire for further outer space experimentation has never ceased. Currently, a visit on Mars is the central focus of modern space exploration, and this would come after a couple of successful space explorations that would see man step on the moon a few decades ago. So far, several countries such as Russia, the US, and the European Union have successfully managed to send people to Mars (Burke, 2013).

Despite the scientific and technological achievements associated with space exploration, this experience has brought a lot of national pride and fame for the three nations. India is likely to be the next country to join in this glory, following the launch of their first spacecraft to Mars on November 13, 2013. Even though the success of this exploration will earn India a lot of fame, the mission can never be justified, considering the diverse issues surrounding the country’s population that should have come first.

Space exploration has become a key area of concern for modern scientists and this is evident from the many attempts being undertaken in the world today to explore every bit of the outer space. The history of space exploration dates backs over 70 years when several experimental rocket launches were conducted time after time by the Soviet Union (Siddiqi, 2003). This came as a result of man’s big desire to travel to space and get to explore the outer space environment. This riddle, however, appeared to get an answer when the Soviet Union successfully managed to send two satellites into space in 1957.

This achievement resulted into the space race and this would, in turn help to facilitate the revolution in space exploration. With the rampant advancement in modern technology, space exploration is becoming easier and safer nowadays. This explains the reason why it is possible for any country to assume that it can easily embark on outer space explorations. However, such space explorations are usually costly and are only fit for developed nations, but not for a country like India which is struggling to feed its population.

India is a country with a long history of poverty. According to recent reports, even though poverty levels in the country have significantly declined over the years, there are still hundreds of millions of Indians who are languishing in adept poverty today. These high levels of poverty have continued to impose an oppressive weight on the citizens, especially in the rural India where over 70 percent of the country’s poor live. India is said to have the highest concentration of poor people living below the poverty line in the world (Gupta, 2008). This however, has been a major barrier to economic opportunities in the country.

This clearly explains why India has lagged behind other Asian countries in matters involving economic development. Even though India has tried to apply some effective interventions that have helped to improve its ailing economy, there is still an opportunity for the country to reexamine its approach to deal with poverty. In this regard, I believe it would have made much sense if the $72 million allocated for the space program was used to improve the living standards of the Indians, rather than being used for a pride-seeking experiment that will never help the citizens in any way.

Apart from the issues of poverty and hunger in India where over 40 percent of children are said to be malnourished, the country is also associated with a failing infrastructure in almost all sectors. Some key buildings in major urban centres are dilapidated and most roads are in bad shape, thus making it difficulty for people to drive on them. It is also very clear that half of the country’s population lack toilets, among other significant facilities such as proper shelter and health care services.

Moreover, India is a place where people are used to ruining public property, especially when they are demonstrating. In fact, this has over the time contributed to poor management of solid waste and sewerage in most parts of the country. As a result of this, dirty places that are characterized by garbage on the roads and uncovered drains have become more common in most parts of India. As a matter of fact, one can never stop wondering how a country with so many basic needs can afford to undertake such a costly space program.

As Kingdon (2007) observes, recent demographic statistics have shown about 40 percent of the Indian population to be illiterate and unemployed. Obviously, high population growth rates such as the ones witnessed in India usually come with a lot of effects on people. For instance, there would be a high competition for available facilities and resources. In this regard, only a little percentage of the population is likely to have full access of the resources. This scenario can be used to explain the case of India where the number of learning facilities is far less than the level needed to adequately cater for the educational needs of every child in the country. Based on these observations, there is no doubt that there is need for more schools in India to ensure that more children can access education. In that case, the money intended for the Mars space program would have had a better use in such facilities that are likely to bring positive impacts on the country’s future economic development.

Based on the observations made on this paper, India’s space program cannot be anything else but a space race between the country and its rivals from Asia, particularly China. There can never be any doubt about this conclusion, considering the fact that India is focused on showcasing its technology more than it is concerned about the welfare of its population. It is unimaginable that the Indian government can even think of investing in a space program that would cost the taxpayers over $70m while the same taxpayers are suffering due to lack of common basic needs (Lele, 2013).

Even though the space mission can be a big milestone in India’s space exploration affairs, it could have waited until India reaches the status of a fully-developed economy like China, which is their main regional rival in such plans. In my opinion, I strongly believe that India would have achieved much national pride if it focused more on things that mattered for its citizens rather than going for costly programs such as the Mars mission that would only succeed in slowing down the country’s economic progress.

Burke, J. (2013, November 5). ISRO to launch India’s first spacecraft to Mars . The Guardian , p. 17. Web.

Gupta, K. (2008). Poverty in India . United Kingdom: Atlantic Books. Web.

Kingdon, G. (2007). The progress of school education in India. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 23 (2), 168-195. Web.

Lele, A. (2013). Mission Mars: India’s Quest for the Red Planet . New York: Springer. Web.

Siddiqi, A. (2003). The Soviet space race with Apollo . Florida: University Press of Florida. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2022, May 3). India's Space Exploration Affairs. https://ivypanda.com/essays/indias-space-programs/

"India's Space Exploration Affairs." IvyPanda , 3 May 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/indias-space-programs/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'India's Space Exploration Affairs'. 3 May.

IvyPanda . 2022. "India's Space Exploration Affairs." May 3, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/indias-space-programs/.

1. IvyPanda . "India's Space Exploration Affairs." May 3, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/indias-space-programs/.

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IvyPanda . "India's Space Exploration Affairs." May 3, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/indias-space-programs/.

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• 24 August 2023

India’s Moon landing is a stellar achievement — and a win for science

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A mum and daughter celebrate yesterday’s Chandrayaan-3 landing, at the Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi. Credit: Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty

It’s hard to land on the Moon and keep your spacecraft intact. Just days ago, Russia’s Luna-25 mission crashed , dashing hopes for the country’s first trip to the Moon since 1976, when it was part of the Soviet Union. In April, a private Japanese effort also crash-landed on the lunar surface . That is one of the reasons the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is so special.

Touchdown occurred just after 6 p.m. Indian time on 23 August near the Moon’s south pole, making India only the fourth nation (after the United States, the Soviet Union and China) to achieve a controlled lunar landing. Furthermore, India is the first to land at high latitudes, around 600 kilometres from the pole. That’s significant because the polar regions are thought to contain ice that could be a resource for future lunar exploration, for instance as a source of the components of rocket fuel.

India lands on the Moon! Scientists celebrate as Chandrayaan-3 touches down

Earlier today, the mission’s landing module Vikram, named after physicist Vikram Sarabhai, considered the founder of India’s space programme, deployed a small rover that will study lunar rocks and dirt. The solar-powered mission is meant to last for two weeks, until lunar night hits this part of the surface.

Like the US and Russian space agencies, ISRO has learnt from a previous failure. The Chandrayaan-2 lander crashed in September 2019 , when its software could not diagnose and correct a problem with its thrusters as the craft descended to the lunar surface. ISRO engineers added many back-up systems to Chandrayaan-3, and tested more rigorously how the spacecraft could respond if things went wrong.

Dozens of missions to the Moon are planned in the coming years. The next attempt will come in the next few days, when Japan aims to send a spacecraft to test pinpoint landing techniques. It’s tempting to frame this flood of interest in the Moon as a new space race, with nations jockeying to be the first to reach particular milestones. But as space writer Jatan Mehta observed this month : “This is not the cold war era. Budgets are finite enough to not risk expensive hardware being blown amid pursuits of trivial firsts and a slight edge at best.”

In space failure is an option — often the only one

However, lunar exploration can be seen as a new proving ground for science and engineering. Previous ISRO missions have already brought about fresh lunar science. India’s first Moon mission, the Chandrayaan-1 orbiter , launched in 2008 and helped to confirm the existence of water on the Moon with data gathered by a NASA instrument on board ( C. M. Pieters et al . Science 326 , 568–572; 2009 ). Meanwhile, the orbiter component of Chandrayaan-2, which worked even though the lander crashed, continues to map and study the lunar surface. If Chandrayaan-3 continues to function well, it will collect data on the chemistry and mineralogy of the surface.

Yury Borisov, director-general of Russian space agency Roscosmos, told state media this week that Russia’s Moonshot failure happened because the country’s lunar programme had been interrupted for almost five decades, hollowing out the expertise needed to make it to the Moon. ISRO, by contrast, has steadily built on its achievements, including ramping up its engineering talent, although it has declined to reveal how much — or how little — it spent on Chandrayaan-3.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who joined millions of people in watching the final descent, rightly said: “This success belongs to all of humanity.” It is also undoubtedly a stellar achievement for India’s scientists and engineers across many generations.

Nature 620 , 921 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02685-4

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What’s Next for India in Space Exploration

In addition to the scientific results of Chandrayaan-3, India is preparing a joint lunar exploration with Japan.

By Hari Kumar and Mujib Mashal

• Aug. 23, 2023

India has a busy decade of space exploration ahead.

S. Somanath, the director of Indian Space Research Organization, has described the current moment as an inflection point, as the country opens its space programs to private investors after half a century of state monopoly that made advances but at “a shoestring budget mode of working.”

A large share of India’s space efforts in the coming years will focus on the moon.

In addition to the scientific results of Chandrayaan-3, India is preparing a joint lunar exploration with Japan, in which India will provide the lander and Japan the launch vehicle and the rover. The robotic mission, known as LUPEX, is also intended for exploring the South Pole of the moon.

Although an Indian astronaut flew to orbit in 1984, the country has never sent humans to space on its own. It is therefore preparing its first astronaut mission to space, called Gaganyaan. But the project, which aims to send three Indian astronauts to space on the country’s own spacecraft, has faced delays, and ISRO has not announced a date for it.

ISRO will first have to conduct a test flight of the Gaganyaan spacecraft with no astronauts aboard. Officials have said they are at the stage of perfecting the crew escape system, and they said this month that they had tested the drogue parachutes, which help stabilize the capsule that the astronauts will ride as they return to Earth.

Additionally, India is preparing for the Aditya-L1 mission, which plans to study the sun, in early September. ISRO officials have said that it will carry seven payloads to study the photosphere chromosphere and the outermost layers of the sun using electromagnetic and particle detectors.

Another mission is the collaborative NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, which will monitor changes in our planet’s land and ice surfaces from orbit. It is slated to launch from India next year.

The country will also launch a second Mars orbiter mission. The first Mars mission, Mangalyaan, successfully entered the planet’s orbit in 2014 and remained in communication with ISRO until the mission concluded in 2022 when the spacecraft lost power . It made India the first country to achieve Martian orbit on its first attempt, and demonstrated that the country could show scientific prowess even when resources are constrained: The mission’s budget of about $75 million was less than the $100 million budget of the Hollywood space film “Gravity.”

Hari Kumar is a reporter in the New Delhi bureau. He joined The Times in 1997. More about Hari Kumar

Mujib Mashal is The Times’s bureau chief for South Asia. Born in Kabul, he wrote for magazines including The Atlantic, Harper’s and Time before joining The Times. More about Mujib Mashal

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India in Space: Between Utility and Geopolitics pp 9–45 Cite as

India’s Path in Space: A Brief History of an Evolving Endeavour

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Part of the book series: Studies in Space Policy ((STUDSPACE,volume 14))

Often regarded as a recent entrant into the space arena, India is, in fact, an “early adopter” of space technology. Its space programme has deep roots, and it is nearly as old as those of the two superpowers. Yet, India’s place in the realm of the major space powers is unique in the ways in which this country has sought to use its space programme. In sharp contrast to the United States, the Soviet Union and China, India’s initial space priorities did not revolve around the pursuit of national security objectives, but were rather expressions of a leading-edge vision about exploiting space for lifting India’s people out of poverty and escaping dependency positions with advanced nations through technological leapfrogging. For India’s space leaders, space was primarily intended as a very useful tool for addressing the many socio-economic issues facing a huge and developing country.

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Interestingly, the person in charge of the payload integration at TERLS was Abdul Kalam, who would become the president of India in 2002.

In the course of its development, the altitude reached by the Rohini rose from 90 to 360 km, and the payload capacity grew from 16 to 90 kg.

For Swaminathan’s personal account of the genesis and growth of remote sensing aplications in Indian agriculture, see Swaminathan ( 2015 ).

The satellite was launched in May 1974 and subsequently moved to 20°E to enable the conduct of the experiment.

According to ISRO, SITE directly benefited around 200,000 people and takes credit for training 50,000 science teachers of primary schools in 1 year (Indian Space Research Organisation 2015a , b , c , d ).

As articulated by Bhatia, “the agencies responsible for education adopted satellite broadcasting in a big way. For school education, the CIET (Central Institute of Educational Technology) was set up and several SIETs (State Institutes of Educational Technology) were created to provide the necessary infrastructure for ongoing operational use of satellite technology. For higher education, the UGC (University Grants Commission) approached ISRO for setting up the CEC (Consortium for Educational Communication) and several EMMRCs (Educational Multi-Media Research Centres). For Open and Distance Learning, the Indira Gandhi National Open University approached ISRO for the setting up of its broadcasting networks. All these networks were made operational on INSAT where bandwidth was provided to all educational agencies without any cost. In the meanwhile, ISRO experimented with the use of one-way video and two-way audio networks for training. These were found to be most effective for teacher training and all the above educational agencies were oriented and trained to utilize these features” (Bhatia 2016 ).

The procedures used for CAPE were subsequently revised and upgraded to improve the accuracy and timeliness of crop estimates. The wide swath coverage and the ability to quantify different crops eventually led to the national-level crop forecasting programme for a number of crops including sugar cane, potato, cotton, jute, mustard, sorghum, etc. (Harvey et al. 2010 ).

Although the data of Landsat proved very useful, it was limited by the sporadic coverage of India, given the nature of the satellite’s orbital trajectory (Moltz 2012 , p. 116).

The nine standing committees cover the areas of agriculture and soils, bio-resources, geology and mineral resources, water resources, ocean resources and meteorology, cartography and mapping, urban management, rural development and training and technology.

For an insightful account of the story of Aryabhata by U.R. Rao himself, see Rao ( 2015 ).

As Navalgund recounts “with the successful completion of the Bhaskara programme, the capability to build operational satellites for remote sensing was well established and this in conjunction with the experience gained through JEP laid the foundation for the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Programme” (Navalgund 2015 ).

This know-how would only be acquired after the APPLE missions a few years later.

As detailed by Blamont “to acquire the Viking engine technology, ISRO engineers worked in all areas of development activities of the Ariane programme. They participated in design reviews, progress reviews and even had interaction with European industries. They received all detailed design drawings and documents, and participated in inspection and quality assurance of systems, subsystems and components. They were also part of assembly and integration, checkout and testing operations in SEP facilities. They had discussions with SEP specialists and received clarifications to understand the technology fully. Some 40 engineers, working under a five-year contract, participated in the technology acquisition program at Vernon and Brétigny in France”. In 1980 the ISRO Chairman created a Liquid Propulsion Project (LPP) which organised three teams under the leadership of three SEP trained experts – the first team developed the system, the second was tasked to realise all hardware in India in association with Indian industries, and the third team was to establish all development facilities at Mahendragiri (Blamont 2017 ).

The propellant plant of the Centaure rocket was set up in Thumba in 1968 and the first indigenous Centaure rocket launched on February 1969. The propellants were successively indigenised and used for the development of the two-stage Rohini sounding rocket, which was, in fact, very similar to the French Dragon (a more powerful version of Centaure). The first all-Indian Rohini rocket was launched on 27 January 1973, reaching an altitude of 350 km with a payload of 150 kg (Blamont 2017 ).

Indian scientists visited the launch base of the Scout at Wallops Island, Virginia and used the Porz Wahn wind tunnel in Cologne to simulate various altitudes and pressures (Harvey et al. 2010 ).

A Radar Development Project (RDP) was undertaken for “the development and realisation of two C-band medium-range radars for installation at SHAR. The project was successfully completed with Radar I commissioned in the year 1977 and Radar II in 1978. These radars formed the backbone of the tracking system for many years. Radar II continues to be in operation at SHAR” (Narayana 2015 ). A dedicated unit named ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) was subsequently created at SHAR for operating telemetry stations at SHAR, Trivandrum, Port Blair, Mauritius, Brunei and Biak. In 1986, ISTRAC shifted its headquarters to Bangalore (Ibid).

INSAT-3B was the first of the series to be launched – on 22 March 2000 – followed by INSAT-3 on 24 January 2002, INSAT-3A on 10 April 2003 and INSAT-3E on 28 September 2003. All these launches were performed by Ariane-5 from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou.

Four types of spacecraft bus would be built by ISRO for its communication satellites: I-1K (KALPANA), I-2K (INSAT-2), I-3K (INSAT-3) and more recently I-4K for GLSV Mark III rocket (see Chap. 3 ).

In effect, until that time, rockets had been either solid- or liquid-fuelled or alternatively liquid-fuelled with small strap-on boosters.

The KVD-1 was an old engine developed in 1964 by the Isayev Design Bureau for the USSR lunar landing programme. It was test-fired in 1967, but it was never used as the Moon landing programme was cancelled.

However, it is debated whether technology transfer had already occurred at that point.

Setbacks in the GSLV programme as a consequence of four subsequent launch failures between 2006 and 2010 triggered a fundamental review of the entire GTO launch service programme. While theoretically one final GSLV Mk I launch could have been carried out using the remaining Russian upper stage in stock, decisions had been made to not use it any longer, de facto ending the GSLV Mk I programme.

Also the GSLV Mk II, however, experienced a launch failure on its maiden flight, requiring modifications over a period of 3 years following which a GSLV Mk II flight was successfully carried out in January 2014.

It is important to note that ISRO considers launch vehicle and satellite building as separate missions.

See Chap. 3 for a detailed analysis of the budget profile of ISRO and of its recent evolution.

For the Chandrayaan-1, ISRO worked in cooperation with the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden through the European Space Agency (ESA) and with Bulgaria, offering the possibility to fly their experiments. The mission, however, also experienced some technical difficulties and underpinned ISRO’s lack of full transparency with foreign partners, with India refusing to immediately report difficulties to partners.

Also echoing the Chinese approach, it was decided that the first mission would be for a day, while the second for a week (Harvey et al. 2010 , p. 238).

See Chap. 3 for ISRO’s budget breakdown during the past years.

The GSLV experienced problems in April 2010 when the main cryogenic engine on India’s domestically produced third stage failed to ignite. See the previous section in this chapter.

The position was also clarified in a personal interview with Ajey Lele, where he stressed, “As of today, a human mission is not in our space agenda. We are in a very early phase of developing a few critical technologies required for realising a human mission” (Lele 2013a ).

Emphasis added. Quoted from NDTV ( 2013 ). In ISRO Space Vision 2025, the objective is limited to the development of a space vehicle capable of putting two humans into LEO and returning safely to Earth, something that China achieved as early as 2003.

Quoted from Moltz ( 2012 ).

Aravamudan, R. (2015). Evolution of ISRO: A personal account. In P. M. Rao (Ed.), From fishing hamlet to red planet: India’s space journey . New Delhi: Harper Collins.

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Aliberti, M. (2018). India’s Path in Space: A Brief History of an Evolving Endeavour. In: India in Space: Between Utility and Geopolitics. Studies in Space Policy, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71652-7_2

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English Essay on “India in Space” Astronomy Essay, Paragraph, Speech for Class 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 Exam.

India in space.

In India, the space program we were formerly launched in 1972 with the setting up of the Space Commission and the Department of Space. Advancement in areas of communication, meteorology, resources survey, and management, develop satellites, launch vehicles, and associated ground systems were the initial objectives.

Since then, India has made impressive progress in this field. Space technology has not only enhanced India’s communication capabilities but has also contributed to meteorological forecasting, providing advanced disaster warnings, search and rescue measures, and distance education to remote areas.

From a historical perspective, the first Indian satellite was Aryabhata, which was launched by a Soviet rocket on 19th April 1975.

This was launched from a cosmodrome near Moscow. It was designed and built by Indian scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organization. Orders and instructions were transmitted to the experimental 360 kg satellite Aryabhata from the control station at Sriharikota.

Bhaskara-I was the second Indian satellite and Bhaskara-II the third which were launched from the same Soviet cosmodrome mainly for observations on the earth.

With the successful launch of SLV-3 on 18th July 1980 when a 35 kg satellite called Rohini I was placed in LEO, India became only the seventh nation in the world to achieve space orbit capability. This was the first time when a satellite was launched from Indian soil.

This was followed by the development of SLV-3 D1, launched, on 31st May 1981 injecting a 38 kg Rohini-Dl satellite into an orbit near the earth. Its life ended prematurely, nine days after the launch instead of 90 days as envisaged.

The second development flight SLV-3 D was launched on April 17, 1983, from the launch pad Sriharikota. It put the 41.5 kg Rohini satellite RS-D2 into low earth orbit. It carried a two-band solid-state camera called ‘smart sensors’ to take images of identification of landmarks for orbit.

It could also classify the ground features such as water, vegetation, cloud, and snow and helped in evaluating the performance of the vehicle for future flights.

APPLE, which is an abbreviation of the Ariane Passengers Payload Experiment, was India’s first geostationary telecommunication satellite.

It was shot into orbit on June 19, 1981, by European Space Agency’s Ariane rocket from Kourou in French Guyana. Since 1982, a series of multi-purpose application satellites like INSAT-1A, INSAT-1B, INSAT-1C INSAT-1D, INSAT-2A, INSAT-2B, INSAT-2C, INSAT-2D, INSAT-2E, and INSAT-3B has been launched. LNSAT-1B and INSAT-1C are geostationary satellites. Nowadays, INSAT-1B is used extensively for weather forecasting.

INSAT-1B is also used to r&eive and retransmit telephone calls. INSAT-2A launched in 1992, is the first indigenously built multi-utility satellite, hurled into space by Ariane’s vehicle from Kourou.

Launched on March 22, 2000, INSAT1 3B is the first satellite from the third generation, is meant for business, development, and mobile communication.

The telecommunication and mass communication capabilities of the INSAT system, which is linked with the International Telecommunication Satellite (INTELSAT), is being used by the Oil & Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), the Indian Post & Telegraph Department with 28 fixed and 3 transportable stations, Doordarshan, Indian Meteorological Department, All India Radio, etc.

India’s first operational Earth Observation satellite IRS- 1 A, an 850 kg satellite was launched into a 900 km polar orbit on 17th March 1988 by a Soviet rocket. In 1997, India used its own rocket PSLV to place IRS-1D into polar orbit.

On April 18, 2001, GSAT-1 was successfully launched by India’s first development flight of GSIAT-1 from Sriharikota in A.P.

It marked the maturing of India’s space lunch capabilities. The satellite is meant for conducting communication experiments. And on October 22, 2001, ISRO’S Polar Satellite. Launch Vehicle (PSLV) successfully launched three satellites Technology Experiments Satellite (TES) of India, Bispectral Infrared Detection Satellite (BIRD) of Germany, and Project for On-Board Autonomy (PROBA) of Belgium.

The principal rocket & satellite testing and launching station are SHAR in Sriharikota island in Andhra Pradesh. The IS RO satellite center in Bangalore has the primary responsibility for planning, design, development, fabrication, integration, test, and qualification of satellites.

The primary tasks of the Space Application Centre at Ahmedabad are to conceptualize, plan and execute projects. National Remote Sensing Agency at Secunderabad, an autonomous registered society supported by the Department of Space, utilizes modern remote sensing techniques for planning and management of the country’s natural resources and provides Operational support for various users.

The experimental data of NRSA finds application in many fields such as land use, pollution monitoring, soil classification, agriculture, etc. cartography, geological and geographical survey, oceanography, agriculture, etc.

Satellite technology has strengthened existing telegraphy, telephony, wireless telegraphy, and also radio communication. Bio-prospecting in India is becoming a lot easier, with satellites helping Indian scientists reap nature’s benefits.

Scientists are using the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites to map vegetation, ecological zones, and landscapes to provide valuable information that biologists could use in their hunt for new resources. Researchers from more than a dozen institutes have teamed up for the research project supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Department of Space (DOS).

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Essay on “India in Space” Complete Essay for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

India in Space

In India, the space program we was formerly launched in 1972 with the setting up of the Space Commission and the Department of Space. Advancement in areas of communication, meteorology, resources survey and management, develop satellites, launch vehicles and associated ground systems were the initial objectives. Since then, India has made impressive progress in this field. Space technology has not only enhanced India’s communication capabilities, but has also contributed in meteorological forecasting, providing advanced disaster warning, search and rescue measures and distance education to remote areas.

From a historical perspective, the first Indian satellite was Aryabhata, which was launched by a Soviet rocket on 19th April 1975. This was launched from a cosmodrome near Moscow: It was designed and built by Indian scientists and engineers of Indian Space Research Organization. Orders and instructions were transmitted to the experimental 360 kg satellite Aryabhata from the control station at Sriharikota.

Bhaskara-I was the second Indian satellite and Bhaskara-II the third which were launched from the same Soviet cosmodrome mainly for observations on the earth.

With the successful launch of SLV-3 on 18th July, 1980 when a 35 kg satellite called Rohini I was placed in LEO, India became only the seventh nation in the world to achieve space orbit capability. This was the first time when a satellite was launched from Indian soil. This was followed by the development of SLV-3 D1, launched on 31st May 1981 injecting a 38 kg Rohini-D1 satellite into an orbit near the earth. Its life ended prematurely, nine days after the launch instead of 90 days as envisaged. The second development flight SLV-3 D was launched on April 17, 1983 from the launch pad Sriharikota. It put the 41.5 kg Rohini satellite RS-D2 into low earth orbit. It carried a two-band solid state camera called ‘smart sensors’ to take images of identification of landmarks for orbit. It could also classify the ground features such as water, vegetation, cloud and snow and helped in evaluating the vehicles performance for future flights.

APPLE, which is an abbreviation of Ariane Passengers Payload Experiment, was India’s first geostationary telecommunication satellite. It was shot into orbit on June 19, 1981 by European Space Agency’s Ariane rocket from Kourou in French Guyana.

Since 1982, a series of multi-purpose application satellites like I NSAT-1A, I NSAT-1 B, I NSAT-1C I N SAT-1 D, I NSAT-2A, I NSAT-2B, INSAT-2C, INSAT-2D, INSAT-2E and INSAT-3B have been launched. INSAT-1B and INSAT-1C are geostationary satellites. Nowadays, INSAT-1 B is used extensively for weather forecasting. INSAT-1 B is also used to receive and retransmit telephone calls. INSAT-2A launched in 1992, is the first indigenously built multi-utility satellite, hurled into space by Ariane vehicle from Kourou. Lounched on March 22, 2000 INSAT- 3B is the first satellite from third generation, is meant for business, development and mobile communication. The telecommunication and mass communication capabilities of the INSAT system, which is linked with the International Telecommunication Satellite (INTELSAT), is being used by the Oil & Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), the Indian Post &Telegraph Department with 28 fixed and 3 transportable stations, Doordarshan, Indian Meteorological Department, All India Radio, etc.

India’s first operational Earth Observation satellite IRS- 1A, a 850 kg satellite was launched into a 900 km polar orbit on 17th March, 1988 by a Soviet rocket. In 1997, India used its own rocket PSLV to place IRS-1 D into polar orbit. On April 18, 2001, GSAT-1 was successfully launched by India’s first development flight of GSLV-1 from Shriharikota in A.P. It marked the maturing of India’s space launch capabilities. The satellite is meant for conducting communication experiments. And on October 22, 2001, ISRO’S Polar Satellite Launch Vechile (PSLV) successfully launched three satellites Technology Experiments Satellite (TES) of India, Bispectral Infrared Detection Satellite (BIRD) of Germany and Project for on Board Autonomy (PROBA) of Belgium.

The principal rocket & satellite testing and launching station is SHAR in Sriharikota island in Andhra Pradesh. The ISRO satellite centre in Bangalore has the primary responsibility for planning, design, development, fabrication, integration, test and qualification of satellites. The primary tasks of the Space Application Centre at Ahmedabad are to conceptualise, plan and execute projects. National Remote Sensing Agency at Secunderabad, an autonomous registered society supported by Department of Space, utilizes modern remote sensing techniques for planning and management of the country’s natural resources and provides operational support for various users. The experimental data of NRSA finds application in many fields such as land use, pollution monitoring, soil classification, cartography, geological and geographical survey, oceanography, agriculture, etc.

Satellite technology have strengthened existing telegraphy, telephony, wireless telegraphy and also radio communication. Bio-prospecting in India is becoming a lot easier, with satellites helping Indian scientists reap nature’s benefits. Scientists are using the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites to map vegetation, ecological zones and landscapes to provide valuable information that biologists could use in their hunt for new resources. Researchers from more than a dozen institutes have teamed up for the research, project supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Department of Space (DOS).

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Essay on ISRO

500 words essay on isro.

ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organization, is India’s national space agency that is located in the city of Bengaluru. Furthermore, the Department of Space Government of India controls the ISRO space agency. Let us learn more about this space agency with this essay on ISRO.

                                                                                                                                 Essay On Isro

About the ISRO Space Agency

The formation of ISRO took place in the year 1969. Furthermore, the vision behind the establishment of ISRO was to develop and harness space technology in national development. Moreover, this development and harnessing of space technology were to take place while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration.

ISRO is the successor of the Indian National Committee for Space Research whose establishment took place in the year 1962. ISRO now enjoys the reputation of being among the elite space agencies in the world.

As of now, ISRO is the primary Indian agency to perform activities related to the development of new technologies, space exploration, and space-based applications. Moreover, ISRO is among the only six government agencies that operate large fleets of artificial satellites, deploys cryogenic engines, undertakes extraterrestrial missions, and has full launch capabilities.

Throughout many years, ISRO incorporates space service for the benefit of the common man as well as the nation. Moreover, the maintenance of one of the largest fleets of communication satellites and remote sensing satellites takes place by ISRO. They serve the roles of fast and reliable communication as well as Earth observation.

Achievements of ISRO

The first Indian satellite that was built by ISRO was Aryabhata, whose launching took place on April 19 th , 1975. Furthermore, 1980 was another important year for ISRO because the launching of the Rohini satellite took place. Moreover, the successful placing of Rohini in the orbit took place by SLV-3.

In the year 2014 January, ISRO made use of an indigenously built cryogenic engine for GSLV-D5. Also, this was the launch of the GSAT-14 satellite . Most noteworthy, this made India one of the only six countries to develop a cryogenic technology.

Apart from technological capabilities, a lot of contribution has taken place by ISRO in the field of science. Furthermore, ISRO is in charge of its own Lunar and interplanetary missions. Moreover, ISRO controls various specific projects for the promotion of science education, and also to provide data to the scientific community.

The development of two rockets has taken place by ISRO, which are the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). Moreover, ISRO sent Chandrayaan-1, a lunar orbiter, on October 22nd 2008, which made the spectacular discovery of lunar water in ice form.

The Mars Orbiter Mission was sent by ISRO on November 5th 2013, which made its entry into the orbit of Mars on September 24th 2014, thereby making India successful with its attempt to Mars.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on ISRO

There is no doubt that ISRO is really the pride of India. Furthermore, it has boosted the reputation of India in the world as a nation of scientific thought and development. Hopefully, ISRO will continue on its noble mission of space and technological exploration in the future.

FAQs For Essay on ISRO

Question 1: Mention some of the activities of ISRO?

Answer 1: Some of the activities of ISRO are the operation of large fleets of artificial satellites, deployment of cryogenic engines, undertaking extraterrestrial missions, and full launching capabilities.

Question 2: Mention any two satellites launched by ISRO?

Answer 2: Two satellites launched by ISRO are Aryabhata and Rohini. Furthermore, Aryabhata was the first Indian satellite that was built by ISRO. Moreover, Rohini was the first satellite whose placing took place in the orbit by SLV-3.

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National Space Day in India: Essay For Students and Children in 1000 Words

You will read an Essay about the National Space Day in India in this article. This includes an essay for students and children about the National Space Day celebration in India.

This essay explores the significance of National Space Day, the accomplishments of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, and the impact of India’s space exploration efforts. The essay also discusses the announcement of naming the landing sites and how India celebrates its achievements in space exploration.

It emphasizes the importance of inspiring the next generation and India’s position in the global space industry. The article highlights India’s ambitious future plans and commitment to pushing boundaries and exploring new frontiers.

Table of Contents

National Space Day in India: Essay on Celebrating India’s Achievements in Space Exploration and Chandrayaan 2 and 3

A two-segment ramp facilitated the roll-down of the rover. A solar panel enabled the rover to generate power. Here is how the rapid deployment of the ramp and solar panel took place, prior to the rolldown of the rover. The deployment mechanisms, totalling 26 in the Ch-3… pic.twitter.com/kB6dOXO9F8 — ISRO (@isro) August 25, 2023

India’s strides in space exploration have been nothing short of remarkable. On August 23, 2023, India achieved a significant milestone with the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that August 23 will be celebrated as National Space Day in India to commemorate this historic achievement and inspire future generations.

This article explores the significance of National Space Day, the accomplishments of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, and the impact of India’s space exploration efforts.

The Significance of National Space Day

National Space Day holds immense significance, symbolizing India’s remarkable achievements in space exploration.

By dedicating a day to celebrate these accomplishments, the aim is to inspire and motivate the younger generation to dream big and pursue careers in science and technology .

National Space Day also serves as a reminder of India’s commitment to pushing boundaries, exploring the unknown, and contributing to the global scientific community.

The Success of the Chandrayaan-3 Mission

The Chandrayaan-3 mission marked a significant milestone for India’s space program. On August 23, 2023, the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the moon’s surface, becoming the first successful soft landing by an Indian spacecraft.

This achievement showcased India’s technological prowess and highlighted the dedication and hard work of the scientists involved in the mission.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission aimed to demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the moon’s surface, rover roving abilities, and conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

The Announcement of Naming the Landing Sites

During his address to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made two significant announcements regarding the naming of the landing sites.

The spot where the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the moon’s surface will be known as ‘ Shiv Shakti ‘, symbolizing India’s commitment to universal welfare and the power of women.

This naming pays tribute to the immense contributions of women scientists to the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

Additionally, the location where Chandrayaan-2 crash-landed on the moon in 2019 will be called ‘ Tiranga Point ‘, signifying the resilience and determination of India’s space exploration endeavours.

Celebrating India’s Achievements

National Space Day in India will be celebrated annually on August 23, providing an opportunity for the nation to reflect on and celebrate its achievements in space exploration.

The day will be marked by various activities and events across the country, including visits to science museums, planetariums, and space-themed events.

These celebrations aim to inspire and engage the public, particularly the youth, in the wonders of space and encourage their active participation in science and technology.

Inspiring the Next Generation

One of the primary goals of National Space Day India is to inspire and motivate the younger generation to pursue careers in science and technology.

By showcasing India’s achievements in space exploration, the hope is to ignite a passion for scientific discovery and innovation among young minds.

The day serves as a reminder that the sky is not the limit and that India’s space program continues to push boundaries and explore new frontiers.

India’s Position in the Global Space Industry

India’s success in space exploration has positioned the country as a significant player in the global space industry. India has earned international recognition and respect through its ambitious missions and technological advancements.

Experts predict that India’s space industry will continue to grow, with an estimated worth of $16 billion in the coming years.

The success of Chandrayaan-3 and future space missions will attract investments and collaborations, further strengthening India’s position as a leader in space exploration.

Collaboration and International Cooperation

India’s space program has always emphasized collaboration and international cooperation. India has shared knowledge, resources, and expertise through partnerships with various countries, further enriching its space exploration endeavours.

National Space Day India serves as a platform to celebrate these collaborations and highlight the importance of international cooperation in advancing scientific research and exploration.

The Future of India’s Space Program

India’s space program has ambitious plans to continue pushing boundaries and exploring new frontiers. The success of Chandrayaan-3 has paved the way for future missions, including a human mission to the moon.

India aims to build on its achievements and significantly contribute to space science, technology, and exploration. National Space Day India is a reminder of the nation’s commitment to these goals and inspires the next generation of scientists and explorers.

10 Lines on National Space Day in India

• National Space Day in India is celebrated on August 23 every year to commemorate India’s achievements in space exploration.
• The day serves as a platform to inspire and motivate the younger generation to pursue careers in science and technology.
• It symbolizes India’s commitment to pushing boundaries, exploring the unknown, and contributing to the global scientific community.
• National Space Day showcases India’s remarkable strides in space exploration and highlights the country’s technological prowess.
• Activities and events are organized nationwide on National Space Day, including visits to science museums, planetariums, and space-themed events.
• The day provides an opportunity for the nation to reflect on and celebrate its achievements in space exploration.
• India’s success in space exploration has positioned the country as a significant player in the global space industry.
• National Space Day India emphasizes collaboration and international cooperation in advancing scientific research and exploration.
• The day inspires the next generation of scientists and explorers and encourages their active participation in the wonders of space.
• India’s space program has ambitious plans for the future, including a human mission to the moon, further solidifying its position as a leader in space exploration.

National Space Day in India is a celebration of the nation’s achievements in space exploration and a reminder of its commitment to pushing boundaries and exploring the unknown.

The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission and the announcement of the naming of the landing sites symbolize India’s determination, resilience, and scientific prowess. As India continues to make strides in the space industry,

National Space Day, India inspires the younger generation to dream big and pursue careers in science and technology.

Through collaboration and international cooperation, India’s space program will contribute to the global scientific community and pave the way for future discoveries and advancements in space exploration.

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