Chandrayaan - indian mission to moon

With chandrayaan launch stated to happen in mid-October, let us have look at the major milestones of Indian space program, how it began and where is it going?

Space programme in India started in the 1960’s with the launching of small sounding rockets to investigate the ionosphere over the magnetic equator that passes over Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram.


INSAT System is the largest domestic communication satellite system in the Asia Pacific region with eleven satellites in operation carrying a total of 210 transponders for communication and broadcast services including Direct-To-Home (DTH) service besides meteorological instruments for providing meteorological services.


EDUSAT, launched in September 2004, is the first thematic satellite dedicated exclusively for educational services. EDUSAT is providing a wide range of educational delivery modes like one-way TV broadcast, interactive TV, video conferencing, computer conferencing, web-based instructions, etc. About 46 networks that utilise EDUSAT covering 23 states have been setup across the country

With eight satellites in operation, Indian remote Sensing Satellite System (IRS) is the largest civilian remote sensing satellite constellation in the world providing imageries in a variety of spatial resolutions and spectral bands.


ISRO has achieved a significant milestone through the successful test of indigenously developed Cryogenic Stage, to be employed as the upper stage of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The test was conducted for its full flight duration of 720 seconds on November 15, 2007 at Liquid Propulsion test facility at Mahendragiri, in Tamil Nadu. With this test, the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage has been fully qualified on the ground.

Launch of PSLV-C9 is a significant milestone for the country, as it has again proved the reliability and versatility of PSLV and its ability to put satellites in different types of orbits, thus proving its commercial potential as well.

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F04) was launched successfully on September 2, 2007 carrying INSAT-4CR into the desired orbit. The successful launch of GSLV-F04 demonstrated the operational reliability of GSLV as well as reiterating the end-to-end capability of ISRO to not only build state-of-the-art communication satellites, but also to launch them using the indigenously designed and built launch vehicle.

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Below is the time line of Indian space program from its very beginning. See how Indian space program evolved from SLV to chandrayaan-1.

A PhD student,Rizwana Abbasi, at University of Leicester, UK wrote and interesting article at http://www.countercurrents.org/abbasi290108.htm

I liked the way he historically documented india's space program in such a lucid way. So i am reproducing it here.

Today India is surging ahead to bolster its image as a powerhouse of advanced Space technology. It is all the more surprising that it was only in the late 1960s that India embarked on its Space Programme on a rather modest scale by establishing the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was instrumental in staging the first of its low capability projects in the initial stages.

Earlier experiments and investments opened up opportunities for testing the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3), which proved successful. From then on India began to advance by leaps and bounds. It soon started testing a range of SLVs which followed the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLVs), the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the more powerful Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The modernisation of such duel use technologies enhanced Indian capabilities in space and profoundly influenced the South Asian strategic balance. From the 1980s, India jumped into Ballistic Missile superiority by developing its Integrated Guided Missile Programme (IGMDP), which followed the Satellite programme, anti-tank, surface to air, Prithvi and Agni Missiles.

The success of these developments allowed India to achieve rapid superiority in its advanced Satellite Programme. Building upon the success of the Aryabhatta, Bhaskara and Rohini satellites, India started to build high capability satellites, notably the Indian National Satellite (INSAT). The dual purpose INSAT system at present has ten satellites in operation: INSAT-2E, INSAT-3A, INSAT-3B, INSAT-3C, INSAT-3E, KALPANA-1, GSAT-2 and EDUSAT, INSAT-4A and INSAT-4B. The dual purpose GSLV launches INSAT satellites. The INSAT system is a joint venture by the Department of Space (DOS), Department of Telecommunications (DOT), India Meteorological Department (IMD), All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan, the public television broadcaster in India. It is undeniably one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in the Asia Pacific Region.

The year 2007 has proved to be another significant milestone for the Indian Space Programme. It has brought a significant lead for India, which launched the PLSV-C7 and PSLV-C8 on 10 January and 23 April 2007 respectively. The PSLV-C7 established the Indian capability to launch satellites and bring them back to earth successfully. This venture introduced a new era in launch vehicle and satellite technology development which was an undoubted success and an essential step towards Indian manned space flight. It enhanced Indian capabilities to its global satellite launch business. India has joined the elite club of nations by deploying space exploration resources for commercial use. The PSLV-C8 carried an Italian satellite (AGILE) into a low earth orbit. The GSLV-F04 was launched successfully on 2 September 2007 carrying INSAT-4CR into the desired orbit. It is the largest satellite launched by an Indian launcher so far. The launch of GSLV Mk III is already scheduled for 2008-9. A
n Israeli military intelligence satellite, TechSAR, will be sent into orbit by an Indian rocket, the PSLV, in coming months: after this India could boost its intelligence gathering capability extensively. Above all, India is going to launch its first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-I in April 2008, and Chandrayaan-II in 2011-12. In these developments India received help from the US, Russia, Israel and Europe.

Furthermore, India intends to build a constellation of seven satellites, the Indian regional Navigation Satellite system, a NAVSTAR system which will start functioning by 2012. This project will navigate telecommunication, transport, disaster areas and public safety networks along with other regional activities. Such technology plays an increasingly crucial military role, not only in the development of missiles, but in providing sophisticated intelligence, communications and navigation. Moreover, such is the nature of these projects that these satellites will keep the entire region under the watch of India

For those of who who wnat to read the whole thing please help click the link below

http://www.countercurrents.org/abbasi290108.htm

Related links
Watch the videos of chandrayaan-1
How chandrayaan-1 looks like
Who is actually taking chandrayaan-1 to moon?
Who is powering the Indian space program