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In 1963, in the midst of a coconut grove, where a catholic church served as the base center, the first Indian rocket took off from a newly launched station, in a small village called Thumba.
The Ame...
rican Nike Apache that left the Indian soil vanished in thin air with a glowing tail that was visible from places far afield.
This modest yet historic launch of India’s first rocket heralded the beginning of a long journey that established India as a space power and a rocket making nation. Over the next few years, India launched more than 350 small rockets with help from countries like US, UK, France, and Russia.
And this year, this great country is about to embark on a Martian milestone with the return of its first interplanetary voyage of the Mars Orbiter Probe.
However, fifty years ago, the first artificial satellite Sputnik, reached its orbit and overshadowed the take off of a small rocket being fired from southern Kerala. Four years later, this was followed by the race to the Moon that took the first human into space.
When the space age was at its prime all over the world, an Indian scientist Vikram Ambala Sarabhai perceived the benefits of satellites and space instruments in the development of a poor country. He was convinced about the growth momentum that space research could provide a developing country. So, he shared this vision with his mentor, Homi J. Bhabha who initiated research under the umbrella of Department of Atomic energy. And India had officially entered the space race with the rest of the world.
India now makes its own satellites and rockets, specialized in weather, earth observation, communication and remote sensing. ISRO's achievements are something Indians should be proud of. Regrettably, ISRO is an occasionally noticed, inadequately celebrated silent engine of daring and change.
Here is a story of change, a story of strength, the story when India performed and the world stood up to applaud!
On the 22nd day of October, 2001, ISRO's workhorse, the PSLV C3, soared into space. It had onboard, 1108kgs TES (Technology Experiment Satellite) and two fellow passenger satellites, Belgium's PROBA and Germany's BIRD.
This was the perfect launch of a Polar Satellite Vehicle, which the world had ever seen. The indigenously designed TES was successfully transmitting quality images and messages to and fro towards Earth and space. The TES apparatus had the state of art Indian eye in the sky with cameras of 1 meter resolution.
Just few months before the launch, US denied India access to images from Ikonos satellite. But TES got better quality, high resolution and more than sufficient images soon after PSLV C3 concluded which we incidentally didn’t share.
Finally PSLV C3 successfully demonstrated space photography technique to the world with panned HD cameras that keep moving on satellites and need their stare to be fixed on the target, on a pivoting axis for utmost precision.
ISRO has significantly contributed to world development but its contribution to the Indian social and economic development has been immense. It has modernized India and equipped it with latest technology and social facilities. It has come a long way!
Of course, ISRO’s space adventure has had its share of downfalls and dependence - but this year is a beginning of a series of stunning successes. Take a look!
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