Indian space
programme has the primary objective of developing space technology
and application programmes in a self-reliant manner to meet national
developmental needs. Towards meeting this objective, two major
space systems have been established: 1) Indian National Satellite
(INSAT) for telecommunication, television broadcasting and meteorological
services, and 2) Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) for resources
monitoring and management. Two satellite launch vehicles, Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for launching remote sensing satellites
into polar orbits, and Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
(GSLV) for launching communication and meteorological satellites
into 36,000 km high Geo-synchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), have
been operationalised. Research in space science and technology
is undertaken for sub serving the end applications for national
development.
GSLV-F01 Launch -- Heralding Operational Era
The first
operational flight of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle (GSLV) was successfully conducted from Satish Dhawan Space
Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota on September 20, 2004.
It placed the 1,950 kg EDUSAT precisely in the intended
Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit of 180 km perigee and 35,985 km
apogee. Both the developmental test flights conducted earlier
had also been successful. Thus GSLV has demonstrated India’s capability
to design and build technologically complex space systems.
PSLV-C6 Launch: Further Proof of
Reliability
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle had its eighth (PSLV-C6)
consecutively successful flight on May 5, 2005, from SDSC SHAR,
Sriharikota, unequivocally demonstrating the reliability and versatility
of the vehicle. In this
flight, PSLV launched the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, CARTOSAT-1,
and a piggyback satellite, HAMSAT, for Amateur Radio Operators
(HAMs).
Second Launch Pad -- State-of-art Infrastructure
The commissioning
of the state-of-the-art Second Launch Pad (SLP) at SDSC SHAR,
Sriharikota, in May 2005, has enabled to considerably reduce the
time for integration of the launch vehicle as well as meet the
requirement of advanced launch vehicles. SLP uses integrate-transfer-and-launch
concept and it can be used for all the launch vehicles of ISRO
– PSLV, the present GSLV and GSLV-Mk III which is under development.
Technologies for Future Space Transportation
Completion of air-drop test and sea-drop test of the
Space-capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) are significant milestones. The 500 kg SRE is now getting ready for its
launch on board PSLV in the second half of 2006, and it will help
to test reusable thermal protection system, navigation, guidance
and control, hypersonic aerothermodynamics, management of communication
blackout, deceleration and floatation system, recovery, etc.
The breakthrough achieved in Supersonic Combustion Ramjet
(SCRAMJET) to be employed in Air-Breathing engine is important
for the development of launch vehicles for the future.
EDUSAT – Reiterating Social Relevance
EDUSAT launched by GSLV on September 20, 2004,
is the first thematic satellite intended for serving educational
sector to meet the demand for an interactive satellite based distance
education system. It provides connectivity for school, college
and higher levels of education and also to support non-formal
education including developmental communication. It is specially
configured for audio-visual medium, employing digital interactive
classroom and multi-media, multi-centric system.
EDUSAT services
commenced with the inauguration of
885 satellite receive terminals set up predominantly in
the tribal areas of Chamarajanagar under the Primary Education
Project in Chamarajanagar District of Karnataka in March 2005.
Visvesvariah Technological University (VTU) in Karnataka has completed
1,000 interactive classes under EDUSAT. Several national networks
including those for IGNOU, UGC, NCERT and AICTE and Regional networks for Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka and Gujarat have become operational. Networks for Rajasthan,
Punjab, Haryana, J&K, Jharkhand, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland,
Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya
are being implemented.
Telemedicine – Extending Healthcare in Remote Areas
Satellite based
Telemedicine network has been expanded to connect 165 Hospitals
– 132 remote/rural/district hospitals/health centres including
those in Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and J&K and 33 speciality
hospitals located in major cities. Tele-medicine facilitates expert
medical services to population in remote areas by linking via
INSAT hospitals and health centres in remote locations with super
specialty hospitals to bring in connectivity between patients
at remote end with the specialist doctors for medical consultations
and treatment.
INSAT-4A: Heralding New Era in Television Broadcasting
The successful
launch of INSAT-4A on December 22, 2005, has heralded a new era
in television broadcasting services in the country. The heaviest and most powerful satellite launched so far by India,
INSAT-4A, carries 12 high-power Ku-band transponders and 12 C-band
transponders to provide Direct-to-Home (DTH) television broadcast
service. It is capable of reaching digital quality television
programmes to any part of the country.
INSAT-4A has further increased the capacity of the INSAT
system which continues to be the largest domestic satellite systems
in Asia Pacific region with nine satellites in operation (INSAT-2E,
INSAT-3A, INSAT-3B, INSAT-3C, INSAT-3E, GSAT-2, EDUSAT, and KAPLANA
besides INSAT-4A) providing 175 transponders for telecommunication,
television broadcasting and instruments for meteorological services.
The Government
approved in May 2006, the establishment of an “Indian Regional
Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS)” with a constellation of
seven satellites to be realised
over 5-6 years to provide navigation and timing services
over the Indian subcontinent. The satellites are proposed to be
launched using Indian launch vehicles. IRNSS is an important component
of the Indian strategy for satellite navigation.
MCF-Bhopal
– Ensuring Uninterrupted INSAT Operations
The commissioning of the second Master
Control Facility at Bhopal in April 2005, has provided the much-needed
redundancy to ensure uninterrupted operations of INSAT system
to meet the requirements of growing number of satellites in geostationary
orbit. MCF-Bhopal is configured with one 11 meter diameter full
motion antenna and three 7.2 meter diameter limited motion antennas,
a satellite control centre and a power complex.
CARTOSAT-1 - Sharper Images for Enhanced
Applications
CARTOSAT-1, launched by PSLV-C6 in May 2005, is the most
advanced remote sensing satellite built by India so far. It carries cameras with spatial resolution
of 2.5 meter and is capable of acquiring stereoscopic data to
generate digital elevation maps that are valuable for urban and
rural development.
Satellite-based Village Resource Centres
The Prime Minister
inaugurated the first cluster of three Village Resource Centres
(VRC) in Tamil Nadu established jointly by ISRO and the M S Swaminathan
Research Foundation in October 2004. Following this, 85 more VRCs
have been set up in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissa, Kerala,
Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. Another 150 VRCs are
being set up in the country. VRCs, which are set up in association
with NGOs and Trusts and State and Central agencies, are interactive
VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) based network to provide space
enabled information related to natural resources and to provide
services like tele-education, telemedicine, online decision support,
interactive farmers’ advisory services, tele-fishery, e-governance
services, weather services and water management.
Exploring Space -- Chandrayaan-1
India’s first
scientific mission to moon, Chandrayaan-1, has made significant
progress in the last two years. Preliminary design of the spacecraft
has been completed. The scientific instruments to be flown along
with the five main Indian instruments --
three from European Space Agency, one from Bulgaria and
two from USA have been finalised and MoUs signed. The land for
deep space network station has been acquired near Bangalore and
construction of the station commenced during the year.
ASTROSAT
The Government
has approved a project to design and launch a satellite, ASTROSAT,
carrying a cluster of X-ray astronomy instruments and Ultraviolet
(UV) imaging telescope to enable multi-wavelength studies of a
variety of celestial sources and phenomena using.
The launch is planned in 2007-08.
International Cooperation – Widening Scope
The India-US Conference on Space Science, Applications
and Commerce was held at Bangalore in June, 2004, with the objective
of strengthening and expanding the cooperation between India and
the US in the field of space science and applications as well
as related commercial activity. As a follow-up, a Joint Working
Group has been set up to enhance the cooperation in civil space
between India and USA.
ISRO and National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) of USA signed Memoranda of Understanding
(MoU) on May 9, 2006, for inclusion of two US Scientific instruments
– Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini SAR) and Moon Mineralogy
Mapper (M3), jointly -- on board India’s first mission
to Moon, Chandrayaan-1. This is an important milestone in the
India-US cooperation in the field of space exploration.
ISRO and the French Space agency,
CNES signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in November 2004,
for the development and launch of an atmospheric satellite, Megha-Tropiques.
Megha-Tropiques is intended for investigating the contribution
of the water cycle in the tropical atmosphere to climate dynamics.
India will build the spacecraft and will also launch the satellite
using its PSLV as well as, receive, process and distribute the
scientific data. While two of the scientific instruments for the satellite will be
designed and built by CNES, the third will be jointly built by
ISRO and CNES. The launch of Megha-Tropiques is planned by 2008-2009.
ISRO and
European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement in June, 2005,
for including three European instruments - Chandrayaan-1 Imaging
X-Ray Spectrometer (CIXS) developed with contribution from ISRO;
Near Infra-Red Spectrometer (SIR-2) and Sub keV Atom Reflecting
Analyser (SARA) developed in collaboration with ISRO – on board
Chandrayaan-1. A RAdiation DOse Monitor (RADOM) from the Bulgarian
Academy of Sciences is also being included.
The UN sponsored Centre for Space Science and Technology
Education for Asia and the Pacific set up by India has completed
ten fruitful years training more than 600 personnel from 30 countries
in the region.
The Sixth International Lunar Conference was organised at
Udaipur in November 2004. The objective was to discuss
current results on lunar science, including questions regarding
its origin and resources. An Udaipur Declaration was issued at
the end of the conference.
ISRO has agreed to include an atmospheric
sounder called ROSA from Italian Space Agency (ASI) on board its
OCEANSAT-2. A cooperation agreement has been signed with Federal
Space Agency of Russia to fly an Indian instrument for solar physics
and solar-terrestrial sciences on board its CORONAS-PHOTON satellite.
Commercial
Forays
In the presence
of the Prime Minister of India and the President of France, Antrix
Corporation of the Department of Space and EADS Astrium, France,
signed contracts on February 20, 2006, to provide communication
satellite for the international market.
This was a follow-up to a Memorandum of Agreement in June,
2005. The first success of this alliance was the award of the
W2M satellite contract by Eutelsat Communications. W2M will be
delivered to Eutelsat in 26 months.
ISRO, with
the participation of Indian industry, has successfully developed
Automatic Weather Stations (AWS). AWS can be used in consonance
with INSAT-3A and KALPANA-1 to receive data from remote platforms
deployed on ground, water bodies or sea. Antrix Corporation signed
an agreement in March 2005, with a private company for production
and supply of AWS.
Forthcoming
Missions
Preparations are under way
for launch of INSAT-4C by GSLV in July 2006.
INSAT-4B and GSAT-4 launches are planned during 2006-07,
followed by INSAT-4D/GSAT-5 and INSAT-3D during 2007-08, to further
augment the INSAT capacity. The Government has approved the development
and launch of INSAT-4E/GSAT-6 it is planned to launch this satellite
during 2008-09.
CARTOSAT-2,
primarily intended for advanced mapping applications, is planned
for launch by PSLV-C7 in 2006. CARTOSAT-2 is an advanced remote
sensing satellite with a single panchromatic camera, with better
than one metre spatial resolution, is capable of providing scene-specific
spot imageries for cartographic applications.
Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT),
planned for launch in 2007-08, will have night and day imaging
capability as well as imaging under cloudy conditions. RISAT will
complement the band of electro-optical sensors on board Indian
remote sensing satellite launched so far.
The Government
has approved OCEANSAT-2, envisaged for providing continuity to
OCEANSAT-1. It will be
launched in 2007-08.
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