113-554: Indian Deep Space Network ( IDSN ) is a network of large antennas and communication facilities operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation to support the interplanetary spacecraft missions of India. Its hub is located at Byalalu, Ramanagara in the state of Karnataka in India. It was built under the leadership of S K Shivakumar , the then ISTRAC Director and inaugurated on 17 October 2008 by
226-687: A baseband system adhering to Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Standards, thus facilitating cross-support among the Telemetry Tracking Command (TTC) agencies. The two antennas at the Byalalu complex have built-in support facilities. A fibre optic link will provide necessary communication link between the DSN station and SCC/NCC/ISSDC. The 18 m antenna is provisioned to receive two downlink carriers in S band and two carriers in X band ( RCP and LCP ), whereas
339-486: A G/T of 37.5/51 dB/K (45° elevation, clear sky) for S/X-Band. The base-band will adhere to CCSDS Standards facilitating cross-support among the space agencies. The station is also equipped for remote control from the ISTRAC Network Control Centre (NCC). The second antenna is an 18-meter Deep Space Antenna. The third antenna is an 11-meter terminal antenna. The Indian Deep Space Network
452-660: A G/T of 37.5/51 dB/k (45° elevation, clear sky) for S/X Band. The station may be controlled remotely from the ISTRAC Control Centre (NCC) at Bangalore. The IDSN facility in Byalalu also houses the ISRO Navigation Centre (INC). The centre became active on 12 June 2013, at the time of launch of IRNSS-1A , the first of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System series of satellites. The INC has
565-546: A Moon flyby on a night of October 28, 2014, after which it entered elliptical Earth orbit, exceeding its designed lifetime by four times. The Beresheet lander operated by Israel Aerospace Industries and SpaceIL impacted the Moon on April 11, 2019, after a failed landing attempt. Following the abandoned US Constellation program , plans for crewed flights followed by moonbases were declared by Russia, ESA , China, Japan, India, and South Korea. All of them intend to continue
678-512: A Soviet rocket. Efforts to develop an orbital launch vehicle began after mastering sounding rocket technology. The concept was to develop a launcher capable of providing sufficient velocity for a mass of 35 kg (77 lb) to enter low Earth orbit . It took 7 years for ISRO to develop Satellite Launch Vehicle capable of putting 40 kg (88 lb) into a 400-kilometre (250 mi) orbit. An SLV Launch Pad , ground stations, tracking networks, radars and other communications were set up for
791-601: A constellation of imaging , communication and remote sensing satellites . It operates the GAGAN and IRNSS satellite navigation systems. It has sent three missions to the Moon and one mission to Mars . Formerly known as the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), it was set up in 1962 by then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the recommendation of scientist Vikram Sarabhai . It
904-562: A domestic American capability to get back and forth to the surface of the moon.". The first commercial mission to the Moon was accomplished by the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (4M), led by LuxSpace , an affiliate of German OHB AG . The mission was launched on 23 October 2014 with the Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 test spacecraft, attached to the upper stage of a Long March 3C /G2 rocket. The 4M spacecraft made
1017-463: A ground mock-up stage with no technology transfer, instead of five cryogenic stages along with the technology and design in the earlier agreement. These engines were used for the initial flights and were named GSLV Mk.1. ISRO was under US government sanctions between 6 May 1992 to 6 May 1994. After the United States refused to help India with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology during
1130-674: A high stability atomic clock . It will be used to co-ordinate across 21 ground stations in India. The main antenna is a 32-meter Deep Space Antenna. The wheel and track 32 m antenna is a state-of-the-art system that supported the Chandrayaan-1 and later the Mars Orbiter Mission mission operations. It is currently supporting the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and the Aditya-L1 mission as well as actively tracking
1243-558: A joint working framework in 2021, wherein ISRO will approve all short-, medium- and long-term space research projects of common interest between the two. In return, an Advanced Space Research Group (ASRG) formed at IIST under the guidance of the EOC will have full access to ISRO facilities. This was done with the aim of "transforming" the IIST into a premier space research and engineering institute with
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#17327721252531356-582: A launch campaign. The SLV's first launch in 1979 carried a Rohini technology payload but could not inject the satellite into its desired orbit. It was followed by a successful launch in 1980 carrying a Rohini Series-I satellite, making India the seventh country to reach Earth's orbit after the USSR, the US, France, the UK , China and Japan. RS-1 was the third Indian satellite to reach orbit as Bhaskara had been launched from
1469-520: A lunar orbiter called ICUBE-Q along with Chang'e 6. In 2007, the X Prize Foundation together with Google launched the Google Lunar X Prize to encourage commercial endeavors to the Moon. A prize of $ 20 million was to be awarded to the first private venture to get to the Moon with a robotic lander by the end of March 2018, with additional prizes worth $ 10 million for further milestones. As of August 2016, 16 teams were reportedly participating in
1582-426: A means of displaying our might. India's economic progress has made its space programme more visible and active as the country aims for greater self-reliance in space technology. In 2008, India launched as many as 11 satellites, including nine from other countries, and went on to become the first nation to launch 10 satellites on one rocket. ISRO has put into operation two major satellite systems:
1695-528: A much more influential effort was published by Johannes Hevelius . In 1647, Hevelius published Selenographia , the first treatise entirely devoted to the Moon. Hevelius's nomenclature, although used in Protestant countries until the eighteenth century, was replaced by the system published in 1651 by the Jesuit astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli , who gave the large naked-eye spots the names of seas and
1808-472: A number of satellite series and constellations have been deployed by Indian and foreign launchers. At present, ISRO operates one of the largest constellations of active communication and earth imaging satellites for military and civilian uses. The Indian Remote Sensing satellites (IRS) are India's earth observation satellites. They are the largest collection of remote sensing satellites for civilian use in operation today, providing remote sensing services. All
1921-441: A precedent helping to define regulatory standards for deep-space commercial activity in the future. Previously, private companies were restricted to operating on or around Earth. On 29 November 2018, NASA announced that nine commercial companies would compete to win a contract to send small payloads to the Moon in what is known as Commercial Lunar Payload Services . According to NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine , "We are building
2034-420: A sphere, though many believed that it was "perfectly smooth". In 1609, Galileo Galilei drew one of the first telescopic drawings of the Moon in his book Sidereus Nuncius and noted that it was not smooth but had mountains and craters. Later in the 17th century, Giovanni Battista Riccioli and Francesco Maria Grimaldi drew a map of the Moon and gave many craters the names they still have today. On maps,
2147-449: A successful launch in 1980 making India the sixth country in world with orbital launch capability. The development of bigger rockets began afterwards. Augmented or Advanced Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) was another small launch vehicle released in 1980s to develop technologies required to place satellites into geostationary orbit . ISRO did not have adequate funds to develop ASLV and PSLV at once. Since ASLV suffered repeated failures, it
2260-609: A third the actual average distance. Chinese philosophers of the Han dynasty believed the Moon to be energy equated to qi but recognized that the light of the Moon was a reflection of the Sun. Mathematician and astrologer Jing Fang noted the sphericity of the Moon. Shen Kuo of the Song dynasty created an allegory equating the waxing and waning of the Moon to a round ball of reflective silver that, when doused with white powder and viewed from
2373-402: A ₹400 crore (4 billion; US$ 53 million) project called Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis (NETRA). It will help the country track atmospheric entry , intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), anti-satellite weapon and other space-based attacks. All the radars and telescopes will be connected through NETRA. The system will support remote and scheduled operations. NETRA will follow
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#17327721252532486-647: Is India's national space agency . It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister of India , with the Chairman of ISRO also serving as the chief executive of the DoS. It is primarily responsible for space-based operations, space exploration , international space cooperation and the development of related technologies. The agency maintains
2599-441: Is a small-lift launch vehicle developed by the ISRO with payload capacity to deliver 500 kg (1,100 lb) to low Earth orbit (500 km (310 mi)) or 300 kg (660 lb) to Sun-synchronous orbit (500 km (310 mi)) for launching small satellites, with the capability to support multiple orbital drop-offs. Decade-wise summary of SSLV launches: Rohini is a series of sounding rockets developed by
2712-443: Is a cooperative altimetry technology mission, used for monitoring the oceans' surface and sea levels. AltiKa measures ocean surface topography with an accuracy of 8 mm (0.31 in), compared to 2.5 cm (0.98 in) on average using altimeters, and with a spatial resolution of 2 km (1.2 mi). During the 1960s and 1970s, India initiated its own launch vehicles owing to geopolitical and economic considerations. In
2825-400: Is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes, having made his own telescope in 1609, the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations using it. Human exploration of the moon since Luna 2 has consisted of both crewed and uncrewed missions. NASA 's Apollo program has been the only program to successfully land humans on
2938-412: Is its primary service area. IRNSS provides two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Restricted Service (RS), providing a position accuracy of better than 20 m (66 ft) in the primary service area. Kalpana-1 (MetSat-1) was ISRO's first dedicated meteorological satellite. Indo-French satellite SARAL on 25 February 2013. SARAL (or "Satellite with ARgos and AltiKa")
3051-496: Is the heaviest rocket in operational service with ISRO. Equipped with a more powerful cryogenic engine and boosters than GSLV, it has significantly higher payload capacity and allows India to launch all its communication satellites. LVM3 is expected to carry India's first crewed mission to space and will be the testbed for SCE-200 engine which will power India's heavy-lift rockets in the future. Decade-wise summary of LVM3 launches: The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle ( SSLV )
3164-856: The Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion module . This is co-located with 18 m antenna in the IDSN site at Byalalu. A fibre optics / satellite link will provide the necessary connectivity between the IDSN site and Spacecraft Control Centre / Network Control Centre. This antenna is designed to provide uplink in both S-Band (20/2 kW) and X-Band (2.5 kW), either through Right circular polarization or Left circular polarization. The reception capability will be in both S-Band and X-Band (simultaneous RCP & LCP). It can receive two carriers in S-Band and one carrier in X-Band, simultaneously. The system will have
3277-514: The Chang'e 1 robotic lunar orbiter on October 24, 2007. Originally planned for a one-year mission, the Chang'e 1 mission was very successful and ended up being extended for another four months. On March 1, 2009, Chang'e 1 was intentionally impacted on the lunar surface completing the 16-month mission. On October 1, 2010, China launched the Chang'e 2 lunar orbiter. China landed the rover Yutu and
3390-425: The Chang'e 3 lander on the Moon on December 14, 2013, became the third country to have done so. Chang'e 3 is the first spacecraft to soft-land on lunar surface since Luna 24 in 1976. Since the Chang'e 3 mission was a success, the backup lander Chang'e 4 was re-purposed for the new mission goals. China launched on 7 December 2018 the Chang'e 4 mission to the lunar farside . On January 3, 2019, Chang'e 4 landed on
3503-661: The Combined Space Operation Center (CSpOC) to protect the space-based assets of both nations from natural and man-made threats. On 11 July 2022, ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) at Space Situational Awareness Control Centre, in Peenya was inaugurated by Jitender Singh . It will help provide information on on-orbit collision, fragmentation, atmospheric re-entry risk, space-based strategic information, hazardous asteroids, and space weather forecast. IS4OM will safeguard all
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3616-619: The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was founded with Bhabha as its secretary . It provided funding for space research throughout India. During this time, tests continued on aspects of meteorology and the Earth's magnetic field , a topic that had been studied in India since the establishment of the Colaba Observatory in 1823. In 1954, the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES)
3729-858: The Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) for communication services, and the Indian Remote Sensing Programme (IRS) satellites for management of natural resources. ISRO is managed by the DOS, which itself falls under the authority of the Space Commission and manages the following agencies and institutes: Set up as the marketing arm of ISRO, Antrix 's job is to promote products, services and technology developed by ISRO. Set up for marketing spin-off technologies, tech transfers through industry interface and scale up industry participation in
3842-596: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for meteorological and atmospheric study. These sounding rockets are capable of carrying payloads of 2 to 200 kilograms (4.4 to 440.9 lb) between altitudes of 100 to 500 kilometres (62 to 311 mi). The ISRO currently uses RH-200, RH-300,Mk-II, RH-560 Mk-II and RH-560 Mk-III rockets, which are launched from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Thumba and
3955-492: The Indian Space Research Organisation , launched Chandrayaan-1 , an uncrewed lunar orbiter, on October 22, 2008. The lunar probe was originally intended to orbit the Moon for two years, with scientific objectives to prepare a three-dimensional atlas of the near and far side of the Moon and to conduct a chemical and mineralogical mapping of the lunar surface. The orbiter released the Moon Impact Probe which impacted
4068-740: The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IASDCC) and United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOSA) guidelines. The objective of NETRA is to track objects at a distance of 36,000 kilometres (22,000 mi) in GTO. India signed a memorandum of understanding on the Space Situational Awareness Data Sharing Pact with the US in April 2022. It will enable Department of Space to collaborate with
4181-567: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). By 2017, the lander was planned to be launched in 2021, but this was delayed until 2023 due to delays in SLIM's ride-share mission, X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM). It was successfully launched on 6 September 2023 at 23:42 UTC (7 September 08:42 Japan Standard Time). On 1 October 2023, the lander executed its trans-lunar injection burn. It entered orbit around
4294-471: The Kargil war , ISRO was prompted to develop its own satellite navigation system IRNSS (now NaVIC i.e. Navigation with Indian Constellation) which it is now expanding further. In 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee urged scientists to develop technologies to land humans on the Moon and programmes for lunar, planetary and crewed missions were started. ISRO launched Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, purportedly
4407-672: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter , on June 18, 2009, which has collected imagery of the Moon's surface. It also carried the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite ( LCROSS ), which investigated the possible existence of water in the crater Cabeus . GRAIL is another mission, launched in 2011. Following the decades-long lull in lunar exploration in the aftermath of the Cold War, the main push of US lunar exploration goals has coalesced under
4520-490: The Moon was uncrewed Soviet probe Luna 1 on January 4, 1959, and went on to be the first probe to reach a heliocentric orbit around the Sun. Few knew that Luna 1 was designed to impact the surface of the Moon. The first probe to impact the surface of the Moon was the Soviet probe Luna 2 , which made a hard landing on September 14, 1959, at 21:02:24 UTC. The far side of the Moon was first photographed on October 7, 1959, by
4633-695: The Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad , and Homi Bhabha , who established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1945. Initial experiments in space sciences included the study of cosmic radiation , high-altitude and airborne testing, deep underground experimentation at the Kolar mines —one of the deepest mining sites in the world—and studies of the upper atmosphere . These studies were done at research laboratories, universities, and independent locations. In 1950,
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4746-683: The Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota . The first proposal to send humans into space was discussed by ISRO in 2006, leading to work on the required infrastructure and spacecraft. The trials for crewed space missions began in 2007 with the 600-kilogram (1,300 lb) Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE), launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, and safely returned to earth 12 days later. Exploration of
4859-651: The Soviet Union and the United States of America accelerated with a focus on the Moon. This included many scientifically important firsts, such as the first photographs of the then-unseen far side of the Moon in 1959 by the Soviet Union, and culminated with the landing of the first humans on the Moon in 1969, widely seen around the world as one of the pivotal events of the 20th century and of human history in general. The first artificial object to fly by
4972-559: The far side of the Moon was made by the CNSA robotic spacecraft Chang'e 4 in early 2019, which successfully deployed the Yutu-2 robotic lunar rover. On 25 June 2024, China's Chang'e 6 conducted the first lunar sample return from the far side of the Moon. The current goals of lunar exploration across all major space agencies now primarily focus on the continued survey of the lunar surface through various lunar missions in preparation for
5085-451: The far side of the Moon . This is China's second lunar sample return mission, the first was achieved by Chang'e 5 from the lunar near side four years earlier. It also carried a Chinese rover called Jinchan to conduct infrared spectroscopy of lunar surface and imaged Chang'e 6 lander on lunar surface. The lander-ascender-rover combination was separated with the orbiter and returner before landing on 1 June 2024 at 22:23 UTC. It landed on
5198-457: The 1920s, when scientist S. K. Mitra conducted a series of experiments sounding the ionosphere through ground-based radio in Kolkata . Later, Indian scientists like C.V. Raman and Meghnad Saha contributed to scientific principles applicable in space sciences. After 1945, important developments were made in coordinated space research in India by two scientists: Vikram Sarabhai, founder of
5311-482: The 1960s–1970s, the country developed a sounding rocket , and by the 1980s, research had yielded the Satellite Launch Vehicle -3 and the more advanced Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), complete with operational supporting infrastructure. The Satellite Launch Vehicle (known as SLV-3) was the first space rocket to be developed by India. The initial launch in 1979 was a failure followed by
5424-460: The 3rd millenium BCE. Though the oldest found and identified astronomical depiction of the Moon is the Nebra sky disc from c. 1800–1600 BCE . The ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras , whose non-religious view of the heavens was one cause for his imprisonment and eventual exile, reasoned that the Sun and Moon were both giant spherical rocks, and that the latter reflected the light of
5537-627: The Apollo missions 11 through 17 (except Apollo 13 , which aborted its planned lunar landing). Luna 24 in 1976 was the last Lunar mission by either the Soviet Union or the U.S. until Clementine in 1994. Focus shifted to probes to other planets , space stations , and the Shuttle program . Before the "Moon race," the U.S. had pre-projects for scientific and military moonbases: the Lunex Project and Project Horizon . Besides crewed landings,
5650-623: The Artemis program, formulated in 2017. On 10 August 2023, Russia launched the Luna 25 mission, its first mission to the Moon since 1976. On 20 August, it crashed into the Moon after a guidance error that resulted in an anomalous orbit lowering maneuver. South Korea launched the lunar orbiter Danuri on 4 August 2022, and it arrived at the Moon on 16 December 2022. This is the first phase of South Korea's lunar exploration program, with plans to launch another lunar lander and probe. Pakistan sent
5763-575: The Earth as 346,345 km (215,209 mi). In the 11th century, the Islamic physicist Alhazen investigated moonlight through a number of experiments and observations, concluding it was a combination of the Moon's own light and the Moon's ability to absorb and emit sunlight. By the Middle Ages , before the invention of the telescope, an increasing number of people began to recognise the Moon as
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#17327721252535876-635: The Indian Space Programme. S-TICs are at the National Institute of Technology, Agartala serving for east region, National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar for the north region, and the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli for the south region of India. Similar to NASA's CalTech -operated Jet Propulsion Laboratory , ISRO and the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) implemented
5989-699: The Lunar surface before impacting it in July 1964. A number of problems with launch vehicles, ground equipment, and spacecraft electronics plagued the Ranger program and early probe missions in general. These lessons helped in Mariner 2 , the only successful U.S. space probe after Kennedy's famous speech to congress and before his death in November 1963. U.S. success rates improved greatly from Ranger 7 onward. In 1966,
6102-474: The Moon The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2 , a space probe launched by the Soviet Union , made a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had been observations from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei
6215-457: The Moon , which it did six times on the near side in the 20th century. The first human landing took place in 1969, when the Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong touched down on the lunar surface, leaving scientific instruments upon the mission's completion and returning lunar samples to Earth. All missions had taken place on the lunar near side until the first soft landing on
6328-432: The Moon at 15:04 GMT on November 14, 2008. The orbitor was able to detect a widespread presence of water molecules in the lunar soil. This mission was followed up by Chandrayaan-2 , which launched on July 22, 2019, and entered lunar orbit on August 20, 2019. Chandrayaan-2 also carried India's first lander and rover, but due to a last minute technical glitch in the landing system, the spacecraft crash-landed. Chandrayaan-2
6441-564: The Moon landing in a Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs : Now it is time to take longer strides – time for a great new American enterprise – time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth. ...For while we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first, we can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last. ...I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving
6554-425: The Moon on 25 December 2023, and landed on 19 January 2024 at 15:20 UTC. As a result, Japan became the fifth country to soft land on the surface of the Moon. Since then, it has survived 4 lunar days and 3 lunar nights. The European Space Agency launched a small, low-cost lunar orbital probe called SMART 1 on September 27, 2003. SMART 1's primary goal was to take three-dimensional X-ray and infrared imagery of
6667-438: The Moon's surface on 1 June 2024. The ascender was launched back to lunar orbit on 3 June 2024 at 23:38 UTC, carrying samples collected by the lander, and later completed another robotic rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. The sample container was then transferred to the returner, which landed on Inner Mongolia on 25 June 2024, completing China's far side extraterrestrial sample return mission. India's national space agency,
6780-417: The Moon. In September 1968 the Soviet Union's Zond 5 sent tortoises on a circumlunar mission, followed by turtles aboard Zond 6 in November. On December 24, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 — Frank Borman , James Lovell and William Anders —became the first human beings to enter lunar orbit and see the far side of the Moon in person. Humans first landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. The first humans to walk on
6893-552: The PSLV in 1990s was a major boost for the Indian space programme. With the exception of its first flight in 1994 and two partial failures later, the PSLV had a streak of more than 50 successful flights. The PSLV enabled India to launch all of its low Earth orbit satellites, small payloads to GTO and hundreds of foreign satellites . Along with the PSLV flights, development of a new rocket, a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)
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#17327721252537006-439: The Satellite-Based Communications, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management plan for civil aviation. The Indian SBAS system has been given the acronym GAGAN – GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation . A national plan for satellite navigation including implementation of a Technology Demonstration System (TDS) over Indian airspace as a proof of concept has been prepared jointly by Airports Authority of India and ISRO. The TDS
7119-451: The Satish Dhawan Space Launch Centre at Sriharikota , when the probe separated from the launch vehicle. IDSN had been used to track Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) also known as Mangalyaan . The IDSN32 antenna will be used for science data collection from the Venus Orbiter Mission Spacecraft, planned to be launched in 2028. Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO / ˈ ɪ s r oʊ / )
7232-522: The Secretary-level INSAT Coordination Committee. The nomenclature of the series was changed to " GSAT " from "INSAT", then further changed to "CMS" from 2020 onwards. These satellites have been used by the Indian Armed Forces as well. GSAT-9 or "SAARC Satellite" provides communication services for India's smaller neighbors. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to implement an indigenous Satellite-Based Regional GPS Augmentation System also known as Space-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) as part of
7345-452: The Soviet probe Luna 3 . Though vague by today's standards, the photos showed that the far side of the Moon almost completely lacked maria . The first American probe to fly by the Moon was Pioneer 4 on March 4, 1959, which occurred shortly after Luna 1. It was the only success of eight American probes that first attempted to launch for the Moon. In an effort to compete with these Soviet successes, U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed
7458-399: The USSR accomplished the first soft landings and took the first pictures from the lunar surface during the Luna 9 and Luna 13 missions. The U.S. followed Ranger with the Surveyor program sending seven robotic spacecraft to the surface of the Moon. Five of the seven spacecraft successfully soft-landed, investigating if the regolith (dust) was shallow enough for astronauts to stand on
7571-432: The USSR in 1979. Efforts to develop a medium-lift launch vehicle capable of putting 600-kilogram (1,300 lb) class spacecrafts into 1,000-kilometre (620 mi) Sun-synchronous orbit had already begun in 1978. They would later lead to the development of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) . The SLV-3 later had two more launches before discontinuation in 1983. ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC)
7684-422: The abandoned Soviet crewed lunar programs included the building of a multipurpose moonbase " Zvezda ", the first detailed project, complete with developed mockups of expedition vehicles and surface modules. In 1990, Japan's JAXA visited the Moon with the Hiten spacecraft, becoming the third country to place an object in orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft released the Hagoromo probe into lunar orbit, but
7797-504: The capability of leading future space exploration missions for ISRO. To reduce dependency on North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) for space situational awareness and protect the civilian and military assets, ISRO is setting up telescopes and radars in four locations to cover each direction. Leh , Mount Abu and Ponmudi were selected to station the telescopes and radars that will cover North, West and South of Indian territory. The last one will be in Northeast India to cover
7910-579: The community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society, which we find in our country. And we should note that the application of sophisticated technologies and methods of analysis to our problems is not to be confused with embarking on grandiose schemes, whose primary impact is for show rather than for progress measured in hard economic and social terms. The former president of India and chairman of DRDO , A. P. J. Abdul Kalam , said: Very many individuals with myopic vision questioned
8023-401: The competition. In January 2018 the foundation announced that the prize would go unclaimed as none of the finalist teams would be able to make a launch attempt by the deadline. In August 2016, the US government granted permission to US-based start-up Moon Express to land on the Moon. This marked the first time that a private enterprise was given the right to do so. The decision is regarded as
8136-494: The dark parts of the Moon's surface were called maria (singular mare ) or seas, and the light parts were called terrae or continents. Thomas Harriot , as well as Galilei, drew the first telescopic representation of the Moon and observed it for several years. His drawings, however, remained unpublished. The first map of the Moon was made by the Belgian cosmographer and astronomer Michael van Langren in 1645. Two years later
8249-489: The entire eastern region. Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota already supports Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR). All the telescopes and radars will come under Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management (DSSAM) in Bengaluru. It will collect tracking data on inactive satellites and will also perform research on active debris removal, space debris modelling and mitigation. For early warning, ISRO began
8362-519: The eventual establishment of non-temporary human outposts. It is believed by some that the oldest cave paintings from up to 40,000 BP of bulls and geometric shapes, or 20–30,000 year old tally sticks were used to observe the phases of the Moon, keeping time using the waxing and waning of the Moon's phases . One of the earliest known possible depictions of the Moon is a 3,000 BCE rock carving Orthostat 47 at Knowth , Ireland. Lunar deities like Nanna/Sin featuring crescents are found since
8475-556: The failure of the Long March 5 launch vehicle . However, after a successful return of flight by the Long March 5 rocket in late December 2019, China targeted its Chang'e 5 sample return mission for late 2020. China completed this mission on December 16, 2020, with the return of approximately 2 kilograms of lunar sample. China sent Chang'e 6 on 3 May 2024, which conducted the first lunar sample return from Apollo Basin on
8588-477: The far side of the Moon. Chang'e 4 deployed the Yutu-2 Moon rover, which subsequently became the current record distance-holder for lunar surface travel. Among other discoveries, Yutu-2 found that the dust at some locations of the far side of the Moon is up to 12 meters deep. China planned to conduct a sample return mission with its Chang'e 5 spacecraft in 2017, but that mission was postponed due to
8701-505: The first director of the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, where sounding rockets were fired, marking the start of upper atmospheric research in India. An indigenous series of sounding rockets named Rohini was subsequently developed and started undergoing launches from 1967 onwards. Waman Dattatreya Patwardhan , another IOFS officer, developed the propellant for the rockets. Under
8814-403: The first probe to verify the presence of water on the Moon, and the Mars Orbiter Mission in 2013, the first Asian spacecraft to enter Martian orbit, making India the first country to succeed at this on its first attempt. Subsequently, the cryogenic upper stage for GSLV rocket became operational, making India the sixth country to have full launch capabilities. A new heavier-lift launcher LVM3
8927-501: The former ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair . Similar networks are run by USA , China , Russia , Europe , and Japan . The network consists of the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), augmented by a fully steerable 18 m (59 ft) and a 32 m (105 ft) DSN antenna which improves the visibility duration when compared with the existing ISTRAC system. The Indian Deep Space Network implements
9040-575: The former. Plutarch , in his book On the Face in the Moon's Orb , suggested that the Moon had deep recesses in which the light of the Sun did not reach and that the spots are nothing but the shadows of rivers or deep chasms. He also entertained the possibility that the Moon was inhabited. Aristarchus attempted to compute the Moon's size and distance from Earth, although his estimated distance of 20 times Earth's radius (which had been accurately determined by his contemporary Eratosthenes ) proved to be about
9153-773: The goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. ...let it be clear that I am asking the Congress and the country to accept a firm commitment to a new course of action—a course which will last for many years and carry very heavy costs... Full text [REDACTED] Ranger 1 launched in August 1961, just three months after President Kennedy's speech. It would be three more years and six failed Ranger missions until Ranger 7 returned close up photos of
9266-540: The government of Indira Gandhi , INCOSPAR was superseded by ISRO. Later in 1972, a space commission and Department of Space (DoS) were set up to oversee space technology development in India specifically. ISRO was brought under DoS, institutionalising space research in India and forging the Indian space programme into its existing form. India joined the Soviet Interkosmos programme for space cooperation and got its first satellite Aryabhatta in orbit through
9379-626: The lunar surface were Neil Armstrong , commander of the U.S. mission Apollo 11 and his fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin . The first robot lunar rover to land on the Moon was the Soviet vessel Lunokhod 1 on November 17, 1970, as part of the Lunokhod programme . To date, the last human to stand on the Moon was Eugene Cernan , who as part of the Apollo 17 mission, walked on the Moon in December 1972. Moon rock samples were brought back to Earth by three Luna missions ( Luna 16 , 20 , and 24 ) and
9492-549: The lunar surface. SMART 1 entered lunar orbit on November 15, 2004, and continued to make observations until September 3, 2006, when it was intentionally crashed into the lunar surface in order to study the impact plume. China has begun the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program for exploring the Moon and is investigating the prospect of lunar mining , specifically looking for the isotope helium-3 for use as an energy source on Earth. China launched
9605-614: The name of ISRO written in two sets of text, orange-coloured Devanagari on the left and blue-coloured English in the Prakrta typeface on the right. As the national space agency of India, ISRO's purpose is the pursuit of all space-based applications such as research, reconnaissance, and communications. It undertakes the design and development of space rockets and satellites, and undertakes explores upper atmosphere and deep space exploration missions. ISRO has also incubated technologies in India's private space sector, boosting its growth. On
9718-728: The operational space assets, identify and monitor other operational spacecraft with close approaches which have overpasses over Indian subcontinent and those which conduct intentional manoeuvres with suspicious motives or seek re-entry within South Asia . On 7 March 2023, ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) conducted successful controlled re-entry of decommissioned satellite Megha-Tropiques after firing four on-board 11 Newton thrusters for 20 minutes each. A series of 20 manoeuvres were performed since August 2022 by spending 120 kg fuel. The final telemetry data confirmed disintegtration over Pacific Ocean. It
9831-416: The prefix "EOS" regardless of functioning in 2020. They support a wide range of applications including optical, radar and electronic reconnaissance for Indian agencies, city planning, oceanography and environmental studies. The Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) is the country's telecommunication system. It is a series of multipurpose geostationary satellites built and launched by ISRO to satisfy
9944-445: The relevance of space activities in a newly independent nation which was finding it difficult to feed its population. But neither Prime Minister Nehru nor Prof. Sarabhai had any ambiguity of purpose. Their vision was very clear: if Indians were to play a meaningful role in the community of nations, they must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to their real-life problems. They had no intention of using it merely as
10057-508: The satellites are placed in polar Sun-synchronous orbit (except GISATs ) and provide data in a variety of spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions to enable several programs to be undertaken relevant to national development. The initial versions are composed of the 1 ( A , B , C , D ) nomenclature while the later versions were divided into sub-classes named based on their functioning and uses including Oceansat , Cartosat , HySIS , EMISAT and ResourceSat etc. Their names were unified under
10170-587: The side, would appear to be a crescent. Indian astronomer Aryabhata stated in his fifth-century text Aryabhatiya that reflected sunlight is what causes the Moon to shine. Persian astronomer Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi conducted various observations at the Al-Shammisiyyah observatory in Baghdad between 825 and 835. Using these observations, he estimated the Moon's diameter as 3,037 km (equivalent to 1,519 km radius) and its distance from
10283-410: The space programmes. ISRO has opened Space Technology Incubation Centres (S-TIC) at premier technical universities in India which will incubate startups to build applications and products in tandem with the industry and for use in future space missions. The S-TIC will bring the industry, academia and ISRO under one umbrella to contribute towards research and development (R&D) initiatives relevant to
10396-431: The successful soft landing of its Vikram lander at 6.04pm IST (1234 GMT) near the little-explored region of the Moon in a world's first for any space programme. India then successfully launched its first sun probe, the Aditya-L1 , aboard a PSLV on September 2. ISRO did not have an official logo until 2002. The one adopted consists of an orange arrow shooting upwards attached with two blue coloured satellite panels with
10509-539: The suggestion of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. Initially there was no dedicated ministry for the space programme and all activities of INCOSPAR relating to space technology continued to function within the DAE. IOFS officers were drawn from the Indian Ordnance Factories to harness their knowledge of propellants and advanced light materials used to build rockets. H.G.S. Murthy , an IOFS officer, was appointed
10622-495: The telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology and search-and-rescue needs. Since the introduction of the first one in 1983, INSAT has become the largest domestic communication system in the Asia-Pacific Region. It is a joint venture of DOS, the Department of Telecommunications , India Meteorological Department , All India Radio and Doordarshan . The overall coordination and management of INSAT system rests with
10735-478: The telescopic spots (now called craters) the name of philosophers and astronomers. In 1753, the Croatian Jesuit and astronomer Roger Joseph Boscovich discovered the absence of atmosphere on the Moon. In 1824, Franz von Paula Gruithuisen explained the formation of craters as a result of meteorite strikes. The now disproven possibility that the Moon contains vegetation and is inhabited by selenites
10848-405: The topic of the importance of a space programme to India as a developing nation, Vikram Sarabhai as INSCOPAR chair said in 1969: To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the Moon or the planets or manned space-flight. But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in
10961-519: The transmitter failed, thereby preventing further scientific use of the spacecraft. In September 2007, Japan launched the SELENE spacecraft, with the objectives "to obtain scientific data of the lunar origin and evolution and to develop the technology for the future lunar exploration", according to the JAXA official website. In 2023, Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is a lunar lander mission of
11074-573: The uplink is either RCP or LCP. It has a G/T of 30/39.5 dB/k (45° elevation, clear sky) for S/X-Band. The 32 m antenna is of a wheel-and-track design. The antenna is designed to provide uplink in both S-Band and X-Band (20 kW) either through RCP or LCP. The reception capability will be in both S band and X band (simultaneous RCP and LCP). It can receive two carriers in S ;band and two carriers in X ;band. The system will have
11187-675: The world that possess full launch capabilities with the ability to deploy cryogenic engines , launch extraterrestrial missions and artificial satellites . It is also one of only four governmental space agencies in to have demonstrated unmanned soft landing capabilities. ISRO's programmes have played a significant role in the socio-economic development. It has supported both civilian and military domains in various aspects such as disaster management , telemedicine , navigation and reconnaissance. ISRO's spin-off technologies have also aided in new innovations in engineering and other allied domains. Modern space research in India can be traced to
11300-401: Was built to track and support India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1, an uncrewed lunar exploration mission. It was launched on 22 October 2008. The IDSN was used for tracking, orbit control and housekeeping operations of India's lunar mission for its entire duration of operation (Planned to be 2 years, achieved only 312 days). IDSN began to track Chandrayaan 17 minutes after its launch from
11413-530: Was completed during 2007 with the installation of eight Indian Reference Stations at different airports linked to the Master Control Centre located near Bengaluru . IRNSS with an operational name NavIC is an independent regional navigation satellite system developed by India. It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km (930 mi) from its borders, which
11526-534: Was dropped in favour of a new project. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV is the first medium-lift launch vehicle from India which enabled India to launch all its remote-sensing satellites into Sun-synchronous orbit . PSLV had a failure in its maiden launch in 1993. Besides two other partial failures, PSLV has become the primary workhorse for ISRO with more than 50 launches placing hundreds of Indian and foreign satellites into orbit. Decade-wise summary of PSLV launches: Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
11639-416: Was envisaged in 1990s to transfer significant payloads to geostationary orbit. ISRO initially had a great problem realising GSLV as the development of CE-7.5 in India took a decade. The US had blocked India from obtaining cryogenic technology from Russia, leading India to develop its own cryogenic engines. Decade-wise summary of GSLV Launches: Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3), previously known as GSLV Mk III,
11752-504: Was established in the foothills of the Himalayas. The Rangpur Observatory was set up in 1957 at Osmania University , Hyderabad . Space research was further encouraged by the government of India. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 and opened up possibilities for the rest of the world to conduct a space launch. The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was set up in 1962 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on
11865-570: Was followed by Chandrayaan-3 , the third lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation. It also carried the lander named Vikram and the rover named Pragyan , and achieved the country's first soft landing near the south polar region of the Moon. The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and NASA launched the Clementine mission in 1994, and Lunar Prospector in 1998. NASA launched
11978-438: Was going on. India tried to obtain upper-stage cryogenic engines from Russia's Glavkosmos but was blocked by the US from doing so. As a result, KVD-1 engines were imported from Russia under a new agreement which had limited success and a project to develop indigenous cryogenic technology was launched in 1994, taking two decades to reach fulfillment. A new agreement was signed with Russia for seven KVD-1 cryogenic stages and
12091-506: Was introduced in 2014 for heavier satellites and future human space missions. On 23 August 2023, India achieved its first soft landing on an extraterrestrial body and became the first nation to successfully land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole and fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on Moon with ISRO's Chandrayaan-3, the third Moon mission. Indian moon mission, Chandrayaan-3 (translated as "mooncraft" in English), saw
12204-453: Was launched by the Soviet space agency Interkosmos in 1975. In 1980, it launched the satellite RS-1 onboard SLV-3 , making India the seventh country to undertake orbital launches. It has subsequently developed various small-lift and medium-lift launch vehicles , enabling the agency to launch various satellites and deep space missions. It is one of the six government space agencies in
12317-528: Was part of a compliance effort following international guidelines on space debris mitigation. Speaking at the 42nd annual meeting of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) in Bengaluru, S. Somanath stated that the long-term goal is for all Indian space actors—both governmental and non-governmental—to accomplish debris-free space missions by 2030. Since the launch of Aryabhata in 1975,
12430-524: Was renamed as ISRO in 1969 and was subsumed into the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). The establishment of ISRO institutionalised space research activities in India. In 1972, the Government set up a Space Commission and the DoS, bringing ISRO under its purview. It has since then been managed by the DoS, which also governs various other institutions in the domain of astronomy and space technology. ISRO built India's first satellite, Aryabhata , which
12543-446: Was seriously considered by major astronomers of the early modern period even into the first decades of the 19th century. In 1834–1836, Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich Mädler published their four-volume Mappa Selenographica and the book Der Mond in 1837, which firmly established the conclusion that the Moon has no bodies of water nor any appreciable atmosphere. The Cold War -inspired " space race " and " Moon race " between
12656-706: Was set up in 1985 and started working on a more powerful engine, Vikas , based upon the French Viking . Two years later, facilities to test liquid-fuelled rocket engines were established and development and testing of various rocket engines thrusters began. At the same time, another solid-fuelled rocket, the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) , whose design was based upon SLV-3 was being developed, with technologies to launch satellites into geostationary orbit (GTO). The ASLV had limited success and multiple launch failures; it
12769-513: Was soon discontinued. Alongside these developments, communication satellite technologies for the Indian National Satellite System and the Indian Remote Sensing Programme for earth observation satellites were developed and launches from overseas were initiated. The number of satellites eventually grew and the systems were established as among the largest satellite constellations in the world, with multi-band communication, radar imaging, optical imaging and meteorological satellites. The arrival of
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