CLASS

ISRO and Space

 § In 1962 Indian National Committee for Space Research
(INCOSPAR) was established by Jawaharlal Nehru.
§ Eminent Scientist Dr Vikram Sarabhai had a major job in
this turn of events. He comprehended the requirement for
space research and was persuaded of the job it can play in
assisting in the development of the country.

Formation § In 1969 INCOSPAR became ISRO Indian Space Research

Organisation (ISRO) to develop an independent Indian
space program. Its headquarters are in Bangalore
(Bengaluru).
§ ISRO became a part of Department of Space which was
created in 1972 and it is accountable to the Prime
Minister.
 § ISRO has many facilities each dedicated to a specialised
field of study in space. A few of them are as follows:
§ Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC),
Thiruvananthapuram
§ Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC),
Thiruvananthapuram
§ Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota
Organs § Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad
§ National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad
§ Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL) is a Marketing arm of
ISRO for promotion and commercial exploitation of space
products, technical consultancy services and transfer of
technologies developed by ISRO.
Types of § Remote Sensing Satellite/Earth Observation/Polar

Satellites § Geostationary/Geosynchronous/Communication
 § Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) arrangement (1980s),
RISAT, Cartosat and Resourcesat arrangement give wide-
field and multi-spectral high resolution information for
land, sea and air perceptions.

Earth § With higher resolution and exact positioning,

Observation Geographical Information Systems' applications today

cover all parts of provincial and metropolitan turn of
events and arranging.
§ It helps in estimating, disaster management and national
resource mapping and planning.
 § INSAT and GSAT – to address the nations requirements
for media transmission, broadcasting and broadband
framework.
§ It offers types of assistance connected to zones like media
transmission, telemedicine, TV, broadband, radio,
disaster management and search and salvage services.
Communication § Established in 1983 with commissioning of INSAT-1B, the
Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system is one of the
largest domestic communication satellite systems in Asia-
Pacific region with nine operational communication
satellites placed in Geostationary orbit.
 § Low Earth Orbits - 600-900 Km altitude
§ The remote sensing satellites circle the earth from pole-to-
pole. A orbit is called sun-facilitated when the angle
between the line joining the centre of the Earth and the
satellite and the Sun is steady all through the circle.
§ The PSLV is similarly used to dispatch the satellites of
lower lift-off mass of up to around 1400 Kg to the
bended Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
PSLV § Because of their sun-synchronism nature, these orbits
are additionally alluded as "Low Earth Orbit (LEO)" which
enables the on-board camera to take photos of the earth
under sun-illumination conditions during all of the
reiterated visits, the satellite makes over a comparable
domain on ground thus making the satellite significant for
earth assets observing.
 § PSLV is a four-staged launch vehicle .It also uses strap-on
motors to augment the thrust provided by the first stage,
and depending on the number of these strap-on boosters,
the PSLV is classified into its various versions like core-
alone version (PSLV-CA), PSLV-G or PSLV-XL variants.

Stages
of § First Stage : Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene

PSLV § Second Stage : Dinitrogen tetroxide

§ Third Stage : Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene
§ Fourth Stage : Monomethylhydrazine (MMH) / Mixed
oxides of nitrogen (MON)
PSLV
 § GSLV's essential payloads are communication satellites of
INSAT class (around 2,500 kg mass) that work from
Geostationary orbits (around 36000 km) and thus are set
in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits by GSLV.
GSLV § To convey the communication-satellites to the
exceptionally circular (commonly 250 x 36000 Km)
Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
 § GSLV in general is a 3 staged vehicle with first stage
using solid rocket motor, second stage using liquid fuel
and the third stage, called Cryogenic Upper Stage, using
cryogenic engine.

About GSLV Fuel :

§ First Stage : Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene

§ Second Stage : Dinitrogen tetroxide
§ Third Stage : Liquid hydrogen / Liquid oxygen
Details
 § It is the most powerful launch vehicle of ISRO.
§ The objective of developing GSLV Mk III are
a)To launch heavier communication satellites
b)Future Interplanetary exploration
c) To launch future crewed missions i.e. to carry
humans to space

GSLV Mk III d)The GSLV MK-III is a 3 stage vehicle and will have
an Indian cryogenic third stage.
e) The 3 stages of GSLV MK III are solid boosters,
liquid motor and cryogenic upper stage
f) GSLV-MK III can put a communication satellite of 4
tonnes into geo-synchronous orbit or 10
tonnes satellite into low earth orbit
 1. Aryabhatta
2. Rohini RS-1
3. Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment

Important 4. Chandrayaan 1

Missions of 5. Mars Orbiter Mission

ISRO 6. Chandrayaan 2
7. Astrosat
8. Gaganyaan
 1. Aryabhatta
Ø It was the first satellite built by India, launched in
the year 1975. Aryabhata was built by the Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO) to conduct experiments in

Aryabhatta X-ray astronomy, aeronomics, and solar physics.

Ø The 360-kilogram satellite built by ISRO was
launched by Russia from their Kapustin Yar rocket launch
and development site using a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle.
 § It was launched in July 18,1980 and India’s first
Rohini RS-1 indigenous satellite launch.SHAR
 § It was launched in 19 June 1981, and First
experimental communication satellite.

Ariane
Passenger
Payload
Experiment
 § Launch : October, 2008 it is the India’s first lunar
probe and was designed to just orbit the Moon
§ The interplanetary radar has been used to observe

Chandrayaan small asteroids several million miles from Earth.

1
Key Findings of Chandrayaan-1
§ presence of lunar water
§ lunar caves
§ Past tectonic activity
§ The faults and fractures
§ To conduct chemical and mineralogical studies for
mapping of the entire lunar surface.
§ To test the impact of a sub-satellite on the lunar surface
for its future soft-landing missions.
 § Launch :November 5, 2013
§ It is India's first interplanetary mission and ISRO has
become the 4th space agency to reach Mars, after the
Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space

Mars Orbiter Agency.

Mission
§ India is the first nation to reach the orbit of Mars on the
very first attempt and also India is the first Asian country
to reach the orbit of Mars.
§ Launched using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV
XL – C25) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre,
Sriharikota, Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh
§ Two moons of Mars: Phobos and Deimos
 § It was India’s first dedicated multi wavelength
space observatory.
§ The satellite was launched on September 28, 2015,
using the launch vehicle Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV) C-30
Astrosat
 § It was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space on
July 22, 2019, by GSLV Mk III-M1

Chandrayan 2
§ Lander (Vikram) ‘Vikram’ is named after the space
luminary, Dr Vikram A Sarabhai
§ Rover (Pragyan) which translates to ‘wisdom’ in Sanskrit
will be one Lunar day which is equal to fourteen earth
days.
§ For better understanding of the Moon’s origin and
evolution it was conducted for topographical researches
and mineralogical studies
§ Chandrayaan 2 will be making an attempt at landing a
lander and the moon rover in a high plain situated
between two craters called as Manzinus C and Simpelius
N. The location has a latitude of about 70-degrees south
 ü ISRO launched the first flight of the SSLV, carrying an
EOS-02 and co-passenger students' satellite AzaadiSAT.

ü the mission failed to place the satellites in their required

orbits, and the satellites, as they were already detached

Small from the launch vehicle, were lost.

ü Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) is a three stage

Satellite Launch Vehicle configured with three Solid Propulsion
Stages and a liquid propulsion-based Velocity Trimming
Launch Module (VTM) as a terminal stage.

Vehicle ü SSLV is capable of launching 500kg satellites in 500km

planar orbit from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC).

ü Projects like SpaceX's Starlink and One Web are

assembling a constellation of hundreds of satellites.
 • SSLV-D2 will place the ISRO’s EOS-07 and two co-
passenger satellites - Janus-1 and AzaadiSat2.
• Janus-1:
• It is a technology demonstrator satellite built by US-based
Antaris and its Indian partners XDLinks and Ananth
Technologies.
• AzaadiSat2:

SSLV-D2 • It is a Cubesat weighing around 8 kg and carries 75 different

payloads.
• Girl students from rural regions across the country were
provided guidance to build these payloads.
• The payloads are integrated by the student team of “Space
Kidz India”.

• EOS-07:
• EOS-07 is a 156.3 kg satellite designed and developed by
ISRO.
 ü The Chandrayaan-3 mission is a follow-up
of Chandrayaan 2 of July 2019, which aimed to land a
Chandraya rover on the lunar South Pole.

an-3 ü In partnership with Japan for 2024.

ü It will have an orbiter and a landing module.
Mission However, this orbiter won’t be loaded with scientific
instruments like the Chandrayaan-2.
 ü the Ministry of Defense has given the Acceptance of
Necessity for the GSAT-7B satellite. This satellite will be
a dedicated satellite for the Indian Army.
ü Currently, India has only two dedicated military satellites —
the GSAT-7 (Rukmini) and GSAT 7A(Angry Bird)— used by
the Indian Navy and Air Force respectively.
ü GSAT 7 series satellites are advanced satellites developed by
the ISRO to meet the communication needs of the defence

GSAT 7B services.
ü The GSAT 7 satellite was launched in August 2013 from an
Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.
ü The satellite carries payloads in Ultra-High Frequency (UHF),
C-band and Ku-band, and helps the Navy to have a secure,
real time communication link between its land
establishments, surface ships, submarines and aircraft.
 ü India’s first liquid-mirror telescope, which
will observe asteroids, supernovae, space debris and
all other celestial objects from an altitude of 2,450
metres in the Himalayas, has seen its first light.
India’s First ü The International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT), which

Liquid is the largest in Asia, has been set up at the Devasthal

Observatory.

Mirror ü The observatory is housed in the Aryabhatta Research

Telescope
Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital in
Uttarakhand.
 § India’s first commercial Space Situational
India’s First Awareness (SSA) Observatory will be set up
Commercial in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand.
SSA § The observatory will be set up by Digantara,
Observatory a Bengaluru-based space sector start-up.
 Ø Space Situational Awareness (SSA) refers to keeping
track of objects in orbit and predicting where they will be
at any given time.

Ø It involves monitoring the movement of all objects —

natural (meteors) and man-made (satellites) — and
tracking space weather.

Ø SSA is generally understood as covering three main areas:

SSA Ø Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) of man- made

objects.

Ø Space Weather (SWE) monitoring and forecast.

Ø Near-Earth Objects (NEO) monitoring (only natural space
objects).
 Ø At present, India uses a Multi Object Tracking Radar at
Sriharikota range (Andhra Pradesh), but it has a limited
range.

Ø Further , for SSA , India depends on data from NORAD

(North American Aerospace Defence Command) and
others available in the public domain.

India’s SSA
Ø However, these platforms don’t provide accurate or
comprehensive information.

Capability: Ø Nodal Agency: ISRO’s efforts towards SSA is coordinated by

the SSA Control Centre in Bengaluru and managed by the
Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and
Management at the ISRO headquarters.
 ü The ISRO is planning the 200th successful launch of
the Rohini RH-200 sounding rocket in a row.

ü Sounding rockets are one or two stage solid

propellant rockets used for probing the upper
Rohini atmospheric regions and for space research.

Sounding ü RH-200:RH-200 is a two-stage rocket capable of

climbing to a height of 70 km bearing scientific payloads.

Rocket ü The ‘200’ in the name denotes the diameter of the rocket
in mm.
 § The mission, codenamed Prarambh (the beginning), is
the Indian private sector’s first entry into the lucrative
space launch market.
§ It is a mission under which Vikram-S –
India’s first privately developed launch vehicle
by Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace will carry 3
customer satellites (2 Indian and 1 foreign) in a sub-orbital
Vikram-S: India’s first flight.

private sector rocket § It is a single-stage solid-fuel suborbital launch

launched under vehicle named after Vikram Sarabhai, the pioneer of
India’s space program.
Mission Prarambh
§ The launch vehicle’s engine, Kalam-80, is named after
former President A P J Abdul Kalam.
§ The Vikram-S is a Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)
that will carry payloads weighing between 290 and 560 kg
 § the Prime Minister has launched the Indian Space
Association (ISpA) via video conferencing. ISpA will act as
a single-window and independent agency on matters related
to space technology.
§ ISpA aspires to be the collective voice of the Indian Space
industry. ISpA will be represented by leading domestic and
global corporations that have advanced capabilities in space
Indian Space and satellite technologies.
Association (ISpA) § ISpA will also work towards building global linkages for the
Indian space industry to bring in critical technology and
investments into the country to create more high skill jobs.

§ Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre

(IN-SPACe) was approved in 2020 to provide a level playing
field for private companies to use Indian space infrastructure
 § ISRO has successfully launched the PSLV C54 from the
Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra
Pradesh.

• INS-2B satellite is a collaborative mission between India

PSLV- and Bhutan with two payloads.
• NanoMx, a multispectral optical imaging payload
C54/Oceans developed by Space Applications Centre (SAC)
• APRS-Digipeater which is jointly developed by DITT-Bhutan
at-3 and URSC was successfully deployed.

§ Earth Observation Satellite-06 (EOS-06) is the Oceansat

series’ 3rd-generation satellite envisaged to observe
ocean colour data, sea surface temperature and wind
vector data to use in oceanography, climatic and
meteorological applications.
 • 2004: The ISRO Policy Planning Committee
recommended.

• July 5, 2018: First successful flight of the crew escape

system was carried out.

• August 15, 2018: The Prime Minister of India in his

Independence Day address of 2018 announced that an
Gaganyaan Indian astronaut would go into space by 2022, when
India celebrates her 75th year of Independence.

• ISRO and CNES, the French space agency, will work

together in the fields of space medicine, astronaut
health monitoring, life support, radiation protection,
space debris protection and personal hygiene
systems, etc.
• The Gaganyaan spacecraft will be placed in a low
earth orbit (LEO) of 300-400 kilometres.

• The three astronauts will leave for space in the crew

module, which would have a 3.7 m diameter and a
height of 7 m.

• ISRO has signed a contract with a subsidiary of

ROSCOSMOS (the Russian space agency), called
Gavkosmos for preparing the Indian astronauts
selected for the mission.

• All the candidate astronauts are pilots from the Indian

Air Force. They were shortlisted from about 25 pilots
by the Air Force.
 ü India’s 1st Solar Coronagraph intended to study the
outermost region of the sun called ‘Corona’.

Aditya – L1 ü Launch: 2022 September expected

Mission ü Launch Vehicle : PSLV

ü Objectives of the Mission:The major scientific objectives
of Aditya-1 are to achieve a fundamental understanding
of the physical processes happening over Sun.
 1)James Webb

2)Perseverance

3)Envision

4)Viper

5)Artemis
Other Space 6)IXPE

Missions 7)DART

8)Space Debris

9)Space X

10)Hope
 Ø It is the most powerful infrared telescope of NASA
Ø Successor of Hubble Telescope :
• Launched into low earth orbit in 1990.
• Hubble has captured galaxies merging,
probed supermassive black holes and has helped us
understand the history of our universe.
James Webb
Space Telescope Ø The telescope is the result of an international
collaboration between NASA, the European Space
Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency.

Ø Herschel Space Observatory Telescope: It is

an infrared telescope, launched in 2009 by the
European Space Agency.
 § Agency : NASA
§ Launch : 30th July 2020
§ Landing : 18th February 2021
Perseverance § Duration: At least one Mars year (about 687 Earth
Rover days).

§ Landing Site: Jezero Crater (an ancient river delta that

has rocks and minerals that could only form in water).
 § Agency: European Space Agency
§ Launch: It is likely to be launched sometime in the 2030s.
§ Objective : The mission will carry a range of instruments
Envision to study the planet’s atmosphere and surface, monitor

Mission
trace gases in the atmosphere and analyse its surface
composition.

§ Importance of Studying Venus:

 § Agency: NASA stands for VIPER stands for Volatiles
Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. It is a mobile robot.
§ Objectives:
Viper • To explore the Moon’s South Pole region.
• Help create lunar resource maps.
 Ø Artemis Program is a United States-led international human
spaceflight program launched in 2017 to return humans to
the Moon, specifically at the lunar south pole region, by
2024.

Ø If successful, it will be the first crewed lunar mission since

Artemis the end of the Apollo program in 1972.

Program
Ø The Artemis Program is carried out predominantly by NASA
with international partners including the space agencies of
Europe, Luxembourg, Japan, Canada, Italy,, Australia, the
United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, and Brazil.
Ø In April 2021, NASA contracted SpaceX to develop,
manufacture, and fly two lunar missions with the Starship
HLS lunar lander.

Ø Lunar Gateway has been announced as an international

space station to orbit the Moon.

Ø Lunar Gateway is a planned small space station in lunar orbit

intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub,
science laboratory, short-term habitation module, and
holding area for rovers and other robots.
 Ø NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission
was launched in December, 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

IXPE Mission Ø A joint effort with the Italian Space Agency, the IXPE
observatory is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring
the polarization of X-rays from the most extreme and
mysterious objects in the universe – supernova remnants,
supermassive black holes, and dozens of other high-energy
objects.
 Ø In November, 2021, NASA launched the Double Asteroid
Redirection Test mission, or DART, from a U.S. Space Force
base in California.

Ø DART is a planetary defense-driven test of technologies for

preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid.
DART Mission
Ø DART will be the first demonstration of the kinetic impactor
technique to change the motion of an asteroid in space.
 Ø European Space Agency (ESA) announced plans to launch a
space debris removal mission in 2025 with the help of a
Swiss start-up called ClearSpace.

ESA Space Debris

Programme Ø The mission, dubbed ClearSpace-1, will use an experimental,
four-armed robot to capture a Vega Secondary Payload
Adapter (Vespa) left behind by ESA's Vega launcher in 2013.
 Ø SpaceX Mars program is a development program initiated by
Elon Musk and SpaceX in order to facilitate the eventual
colonization of Mars.

SpaceX Mars Ø In October 2020 Elon Musk named 2024 as goal for an
uncrewed mission.
program
Ø Elon Musk said that he is highly confident that the first
crewed flights to Mars will happen in 2026.
Ø A key element of the program is planned to be the SpaceX
Starship, a fully reusable super-heavy lift launch vehicle
under development since 2018.

Ø To achieve a large payload, the spacecraft would first enter

Earth orbit, where it is expected to be refueled before it
departs to Mars.

Ø After landing on Mars, the spacecraft would be loaded with

locally-produced propellants to return to Earth.
§ SpaceX intends to concentrate its resources on the
transportation part of the Mars colonization project, including
the design of a propellant plant based on the Sabatier process
that will be deployed on Mars to synthesize methane and
liquid oxygen as rocket propellants from the local supply of
atmospheric carbon dioxide and ground-accessible water ice.
 Ø Emirates Mars Mission is a United Arab Emirates Space
Agency uncrewed space exploration mission to Mars.

Ø The Hope orbiter was launched on 19 July 2020, and went

Emirates Mars into orbit around Mars on 9 February 2021.

Mission
Ø On 9 February 2021, the United Arab Emirates became the
first Arab country and the fifth country to reach Mars and
the second country to successfully enter Mars' orbit on its
first try (India being the first with its 2014 Mars Orbiter
Mission).
 Ø China sent the first section of its own space station.
Ø Tiangong means “Heavenly Palace”

China’s Tiangong Ø the Tianhe core module cabin - into preset orbit

Space Station Ø via a Long March-5B Y2 carrier rocket

Ø From Wenchang spaceport in South China's Hainan Province
Ø Tianhe literally means Harmony in Heaven
 Ø In comparison, International Space Station (ISS), weighs some
420 tons and is the largest orbital platform to date developed
and built by 16 countries including the US, Russia, Canada and
Japan over 12 years.

ISS
Ø China's space station is set to operate for 10 years and can be
extended to 15 years with proper repair and maintenance.
 Ø China has been engaged in exchange and cooperation with
international space agencies including Russia's Roscosmos and
the European Space Agency.

Ø However, the US legal instrument known as the "Wolf

Amendment," which restricts any exchange of information
between NASA and the China National Space Agency or other
Chinese space organizations, has brought an end to the China-
Other US space cooperation.

Ø China's first lunar sample-retrieval mission, Chang'e-5,

concluded its journey on December 17, 2020 bringing back
with it 1,731 grams of lunar soils, and making China the third
country to have successfully brought lunar samples back to
Earth after the US and the former Soviet Union.
 § The Thirty-meter telescope (TMT) project is an
international partnership between the USA, Canada,
Japan, China, and India.

• It will allow deeper exploration into space and observe

cosmic objects with unprecedented sensitivity.

Thirty Meter § The design of back-end instruments and other aspects of

Telescope (TMT) the Thirty Meter Telescope project being installed
at Maunakea in Hawaii has been developed by close
collaboration between the 2020 Physics Nobel Laureate
Andrea Ghez and Indian astronomers.
 • India currently has about 2% of the Global space
economy (the USA has over 50% share)

• Indian Space Industry was valued at $7 billion in

2019 and aspires to grow to $50 billion by 2024.

• India needs to utilise its cost-effectiveness in the

Indian Space space sector

Policy 2023 • The size of the space economy in India is small and is
mostly government funded.

• Increase private sector participation: The United

States, Europe, and Russia — all have space industries
with big players like Boeing, SpaceX, AirBus, Virgin
Galactic, etc.
 § ISRO: It will focus on developing new technologies,
new systems, and research and development. It will
not do any operational and production work for the

Roles
space sector.

§ NSIL: It will carry out strategic activities related to the

& space sector and will work in a demand-driven mode.

Responsibility The operational part of ISRO's missions will be moved to

the NewSpace India Limited.

§ INSPACe: It will be the interface between Indian Space

Research Organisation and non-governmental entities.
 • As part of India's commitment to the Geneva
Conderence on Disarmament, the country continues
to advocate peaceful and civilian use of outer space
and oppose any weaponization of space capabilities or
India in Space programs.

• ISRO is the 6th largest space agency in the world and

holds an exceptional success rate.

• With over 400 private space companies, India ranks

fifth globally in no. of space companies.
• Defence Space Agency: India has recently set up its DSA
supported by the Defence Space Research Organisation
(DSRO) that has the mandate to create weapons
to “degrade, disrupt, destroy or deceive an adversary’s
space capability".
• Also, the Indian Prime Minister launched the Defence
Space Mission at the Defence Expo 2022, Gandhinagar.

§ SAMVAD Program: To encourage and nurture space

research among young minds, ISRO launched its Student
Outreach Program called SAMVAD at its Bengaluru
facility.
 § The Earth's cosmic address is
§ Earth,
§ Solar System,
§ Orion Arm,

Cosmic Address § Milky Way,

§ Local Group,
§ Virgo Supercluster,
§ Laniakea Supercluster,
§ Universe
Earth in Solar
System
Pale Blue Dot
Orion Arm
in
Milky Way
Local Group
 Virgo
Supercluster
Universe
Universe in Sea
Sea
Ocean of
Universe