About 37 years ago, ISRO launched its first experimental satellite – Aryabhata. Although all signals from the satellite were lost after just five days in orbit, Aryabhata’s successful launch was indeed the beginning of a glorious chapter for India and a long and efficacious odyssey for ISRO ... and it continues till date
September 9, 2012 wasn’t a typical day for the scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). ISRO’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was about to make yet another journey into outer space, and as such all eyes were on the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. And when the PSLV C-21 rocket, standing 44 metres tall and weighing about 230 tonne, on its 22nd flight, soared into a clouded sky at 9.53 am carrying two foreign satellites – the 720 kg French satellite SPOT-6 and the 15 kg Japanese micro satellite Proiteres – ISRO had created history. It was agency’s 100th successful satellite launch mission into space. It’s no mean feat for ISRO as SPOT-6 is the heaviest satellite to be launched by the agency for a foreign client so far since India forayed into the money-spinning commercial satellite launch services after 350 kg Agile (of Italy) was put into orbit in 2007 by PSLV C8. With these two satellites ISRO’s total tally of launching foreign satellites now reaches 29. Impressive number. But, for ISRO, it all started just 37 years ago when it launched India’s first experimental satellite – Aryabhata.
The launch of Aryabhata was a landmark in the history of India’s space mission. Launched by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1975 from Kapustin Yar using a Cosmos-3M launch vehicle, Aryabhata was built to conduct experiments in X-ray astronomy, aeronomics, and solar physics. 1.4 meter in diameter, the 26-sided polygon rocket’s 96.3 minute orbit had an apogee of 619 km and a perigee of 563 km, at an inclination of 50.7 degrees. All faces (except the top and bottom) were covered with solar cells. Although all signals from the satellite were lost after just five days in orbit (due to a power failure), Aryabhata’s successful launch was indeed the beginning of a glorious chapter for India and a long and efficacious odyssey for ISRO.
“It was a wonderful experience. All that I can say is today’s science is yesterday’s fiction and tomorrow’s technology. We have to have a long term view of these things and develop the whole spirit of science,” Prof. Udupi Ramachandra Rao tells B&E, recalling the drama and events that unfolded before the launch of India’s first satellite. A renowned space scientist and the former Chairman of ISRO, Rao led the team of 250 scientists and engineers that scripted this historic event. Agrees Anant Patki, who joined ISRO as a design engineer in 1967 and was stationed in Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome for the launch, as he tells B&E, “I was in Russia at the time of the launch. Prof. Satish Dhawan, then Chairman ISRO, along with Indian ambassador was also present at Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome. I still remember the team was simply ecstatic to see the rocket zooming the satellite into orbit. Thrilled, we all knew that a glorious chapter had begun.”
September 9, 2012 wasn’t a typical day for the scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). ISRO’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was about to make yet another journey into outer space, and as such all eyes were on the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. And when the PSLV C-21 rocket, standing 44 metres tall and weighing about 230 tonne, on its 22nd flight, soared into a clouded sky at 9.53 am carrying two foreign satellites – the 720 kg French satellite SPOT-6 and the 15 kg Japanese micro satellite Proiteres – ISRO had created history. It was agency’s 100th successful satellite launch mission into space. It’s no mean feat for ISRO as SPOT-6 is the heaviest satellite to be launched by the agency for a foreign client so far since India forayed into the money-spinning commercial satellite launch services after 350 kg Agile (of Italy) was put into orbit in 2007 by PSLV C8. With these two satellites ISRO’s total tally of launching foreign satellites now reaches 29. Impressive number. But, for ISRO, it all started just 37 years ago when it launched India’s first experimental satellite – Aryabhata.
The launch of Aryabhata was a landmark in the history of India’s space mission. Launched by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1975 from Kapustin Yar using a Cosmos-3M launch vehicle, Aryabhata was built to conduct experiments in X-ray astronomy, aeronomics, and solar physics. 1.4 meter in diameter, the 26-sided polygon rocket’s 96.3 minute orbit had an apogee of 619 km and a perigee of 563 km, at an inclination of 50.7 degrees. All faces (except the top and bottom) were covered with solar cells. Although all signals from the satellite were lost after just five days in orbit (due to a power failure), Aryabhata’s successful launch was indeed the beginning of a glorious chapter for India and a long and efficacious odyssey for ISRO.
“It was a wonderful experience. All that I can say is today’s science is yesterday’s fiction and tomorrow’s technology. We have to have a long term view of these things and develop the whole spirit of science,” Prof. Udupi Ramachandra Rao tells B&E, recalling the drama and events that unfolded before the launch of India’s first satellite. A renowned space scientist and the former Chairman of ISRO, Rao led the team of 250 scientists and engineers that scripted this historic event. Agrees Anant Patki, who joined ISRO as a design engineer in 1967 and was stationed in Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome for the launch, as he tells B&E, “I was in Russia at the time of the launch. Prof. Satish Dhawan, then Chairman ISRO, along with Indian ambassador was also present at Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome. I still remember the team was simply ecstatic to see the rocket zooming the satellite into orbit. Thrilled, we all knew that a glorious chapter had begun.”
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