ISRO was founded on 15 August 1969 to uplift Indian space research on the occasion of Independence Day. It pursued planetary exploration and established a remarkable position among the world’s leading space agencies. Bangalore is the headquarter for ISRO. With the help of the Indian government, Vikram Sarabhai (Father of Indian Space Research) established ISRO. On 19 April 1975, ISRO launched its first satellite ‘Aryabhata’ with the help of the Soviet Union (Russia).
SLV-3 (Satellite Launch Vehicle) successfully placed the satellite in the orbit. India’s first indigenously built space vehicle was Aryabhata. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the “Missile man of India” directed the mission. ISRO PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) developed two more vehicles for placing the satellite into polar orbit. These rockets achieved great success in gaining earth observations and communication for India and other countries as well.
Famous Satellites launched by ISRO
| Satellite | Date | Launch Vehicle | Application |
| APPLE | 19 June 1979 | Ariane-1 (V3) | Commutation |
| BHASKAR 1 BHASKAR 2 | 7 June 1979 20 November 1981 | C-1 Intercosmos | Earth Observation |
| Mars Orbital Mission Spacecraft | 5 November 2013 | PSLV-C11 | Planetary Observation |
| CHANDRAYAAN-1 CHANDRAYAAN-2 | 22 October 2008 22 July 2019 | PSLV-C11 GSLV-MK3 | Planetary Observation |
| ASTROSTAT | 28 September 2015 | PSLV C-30 | Space Science |
ISRO’s one of the most famous launches, which was globally recognized, and showed the ability of India. However, “Chandrayaan-1” was orbiting the Moon at the height of 100 km from the lunar surface, and made 3,400 orbits. The life of the mission was 2 years, but unfortunately, ISRO scientists lost their connection with the orbiter. In 2017, some researchers tracked this orbiter in a polar orbit at a height of 200km from the lunar surface.
Missions launched
Another famous Mission of ISRO was “Mangalyaan” also called ‘ Mars Orbiter Mission’ a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. Mangalyaan was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and inserted into mars orbit on 24th September 2014. It is India’s first interplanetary mission and ISRO has become the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency. It is the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit, and the first nation in the world to do so in its first attempt.
ISRO achieved another success by not only developing indigenous satellite navigation systems e.g. IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System), but also GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation). Finally, ISRO used an indigenously built cryogenic engine for a GSLV-D5 for the launch of the GSAT-14 satellite. A cryogenic engine is a rocket engine that uses cryogenic fuel and an oxidizer. Cryogenic fuel is liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellants used in the rocket engine. Hence, this technology made India one of six countries in the world that built cryogenic.
The Indian space program continues to pursue successful goals on all fronts in meeting the objective of achieving self-reliance in space technology and its applications for national development. For reliability and low-cost operations, ISRO is preferred all over the world.
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