The ISRO - Making us feel proud

As we all know that today Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has created a record with launching 20 satellites in a mission from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-34. So guys let's know more about ISRO and its projects which include Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission and the most recent launching of 20 satellites in a mission etc. So here we go :-

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the space agency of the Indian government headquartered in the city of Bengaluru. Its vision is to "harness space technology for national development, while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration". It has been formed in 1969 but the space research activities were initiated in our country during the early 1960’s when applications using satellites were in experimental stages even in the United States also. At that time, ISRO took the place of erstwhile Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), which was established in 1962 by the effort of independent India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, who was a Scientist. 

The Structure of the Department of Space of the Government of India :-

The establishment of ISRO thus institutionalized space activities in India which is managed by the Department of Space and the DoS reports to the Prime Minister of India. These are the following agencies and institutes which have been managed by the PM of India and the Space Commission. 

1- Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, 2- Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thiruvananthapuram, 3- Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota, 4- ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri, 5- ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bengaluru, 6- Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, 7- National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, 8- ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), Thiruvananthapuram, 9- Development and Educational Communication Unit (DECU), Ahmedabad, 10- Master Control Facility (MCF), Hassan, Karnataka, 11- ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru, 12- Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS), Bengaluru, 13- Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun, 14- Antrix Corporation - The marketing arm of ISRO, Bengaluru, 15- Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, 16- National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), Gadanki, Andhra Pradesh, 17- North-Eastern Space Applications Centre(NE-SAC), Umiam, 18- Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali, 19- Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Thiruvananthapuram - India's space university.

ISRO & its Key Records :-

• ISRO built India's first satellite, Aryabhata, which was launched by the Soviet Union on 19 April in 1975. 
• In 1980, Rohini became the first satellite to be placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle, SLV-3. 
• ISRO subsequently developed two other rockets: the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for launching satellites into polar orbits and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for placing satellites into geostationary orbits. These rockets have launched numerous communications satellites and earth observation satellites. Satellite navigation systems like GAGAN and IRNSS have been deployed. 
• ISRO sent one lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, on 22 October 2008.
• In January 2014, ISRO successfully used an indigenous cryogenic engine in a GSLV-D5 launch of the GSAT-14.
• One Mars orbiter, Mars Orbiter Mission, which successfully entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014, making India the first nation to succeed on its first attempt, and ISRO the fourth space agency in the world as well as the first space agency in Asia to successfully reach Mars orbit.
 

As the end of May 2016, ISRO has carried out 76 spacecraft missions, 46 launch missions. Also, ISRO has launched 111 satellites using indigenously developed launch vehicles out of which 57 are foreign. Also, 29 Indian satellites have been launched by foreign launch vehicles. 

20 Satellite in a single mission :-

The space agency's PSLV C-34 rocket lifted off at 9.25 a.m. from the Second Launch Pad in Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, AP and some 16 minutes later placed Cartosat-2 Series satellite about 505 km above the Earth's orbit. Within the next 10 minutes, the remaining 19 satellites which includes- LAPAN-A3 (Indonesia), M3MSat (Canada), GHGSat-D (Canada), BIROS (Germany), SkySat Gen2-1 (U.S.), Dove Satellites (U.S.) (a total of 12), Sathyabamasat (Sathyabama University, Chennai), Swayam (College of Engineering, Pune) were eventually placed in the intended orbits which includes two Indian academic institutions. The total weight of all the 20 satellites carried onboard PSLV-C34 is about 1288 kg. This is the 14th flight of PSLV. The primary satellite in this mission is the Cartosat-2 (Indian) (725.5 kg-weight) which will be used for drawing maps, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, road network monitoring and water distribution.

  

With 20 satellites, the ISRO has beaten its previous record of placing 10 satellites into orbit in a single mission in 2008. On April 28, 2008, its PSLV-C9 rocket launched a Remote Sensing satellite CARTOSAT-2A along with Indian Mini Satellite (IMS-1) and eight nano satellites. While, Russia holds the world record for placing the most number of satellites in a single launch. Its Dnepr rocket launched 37 satellites in 2014.

So if we say that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is the reason to be proud when we think about the space and science then it will not be wrong. Because since its creation the organization has given us many reasons to feel proud by creating extraordinary things in the history like- Chandrayaan, Mars Orbiter Mission and now by launching 20 satellite in a single mission etc. 

The day will be remembered not for the number of rockets or satellites but will be remembered for the hard work of ISRO.