An introduction to ISRO, the organization that took India to space.
The end of colonial rule was an important milestone worth celebrating, but what lay ahead was a long journey towards the making of modern India. The narrative of ‘modern India’ would be incomplete without the stories of institutions that helped shape India as we know it today.
This volume, part of a series on Institutions that Shaped Modern India, offers an in-depth introduction to one such institution—the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It tells the story of ISRO from its inception to present times. Capturing its history and its evolution, dotted with several achievements and some setbacks, and offering deep insights into ISRO’s key projects—past, present and future—the book is an ode to an institution that has been at the steering wheel of India’s journey into space and has played a seminal role in nation-building.
Developments in the outer space arena post the erstwhile USSR launching the first man-made satellite Sputnik in space on 4 October 1957 have transformed the world significantly. In order to ensure the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was set up by the United Nations General Assembly in 1959.
Ajey Lele replies: There is no official information available in the open-source about any such denial by the United States. However, few references to this effect are found in the media. The Kargil war took place during mid-1999, whereas the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) started developing the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) around 2010.
On December 16, ISRO demonstrated its growing capabilities with multiple burn fuel stage/rocket engine. In few years, ISRO is expected to put big primary payloads into different orbits by using a single rocket launcher.
The uniqueness of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is to have a system with satellites in the geostationary orbit. India needs to exploit the ‘regional nature’ of the IRNSS to the fullest and effectively engage various states from Africa, Asia and Oceania region by using ‘satellite navigation diplomacy’.
One of the biggest advantages of the navigational satellite, once the system gets fully operational, is to reduce the dependency on the GPS. This would make India largely self-sufficient in the navigational field.
For almost the last 50 years, space collaboration has significantly remained intact between France and India. They have worked together on a range of issues from satellite applications, developing small satellites to earth system science and weather satellites.
While 2012 saw ISRO’s 100th space mission, its continued dependence on a single operational launch vehicle in the form of the PSLV has meant dependence on foreign launch services for heavier class satellites.
India’s inadequacies in the space arena are not limited to how much weight its launch vehicles can carry into space but also extends to the number of launches that ISRO can carry out in a year.
Role of Earth Observation Satellites in Counter-Infiltration
It is highly recommended that a range of nano and pico satellites be manufactured and their employment integrated with the border management system.