India Enters Space Age
Space Age means the period characterized by the launching of artificial satellites and manned space vehicles: the period after 1957, the year in which a spacecraft was first placed in orbit around Earth marking the beginning of space exploration. The space age began with the development of several technologies that culminated with the launch of world’s first artificial satellite Sputnik-1, by the then Soviet Union, orbiting the earth in 98.1 minutes.
The launch ushered a new era of political, scientific and technological achievements, and a close race began between USA and Soviet Union for space supremacy. Rapid advances were made in rocketry, materials science, computers and many other areas. Much of the technology originally developed for space applications has been spun off for other uses. The space age reached its peak with the Apollo programme of USA but received a set back due to the collapse of Challenger in 1986. It took some time to regain its original momentum.
Yuri Gagarin, in 1961, became the first man in space, and Neil Armstrong, in 1969, the first person to walk on moon. Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams of NASA, USA the two women of Indian descent, created a history by going into the space. Unfortunately, Kalpana Chawla’s space shuttle Columbia, met with a fatal accident few minutes before landing in 2003, while Sunita Williams, in 2006-07, remained in space for a record period of 195 days.
India’s quest for space autonomy began in 1962 with the creation of Indian national Committee for Space Research, and then, in 1969, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was born. In 1975, the first satellite Aryabhatta was launched through the Soviet rocket Inter cosmos; and by 1979, Bhaskara-1 the first Indian earth observation satellite was launched. Both these satellites carried space science payloads and their success was an auspicious start to India’s own space programmes. Initial efforts at attaining launch vehicle capability had proved failure: however, in 1980, an SLV-3 was successfully launched into the skies above Sriharikota, placing the Rohini-1B satellite into the low-earth-orbit. This launch placed India firmly into the community of space faring nations. In 1981, first experimental geostationary communication satellite Apple was placed into the orbit.
The initiatives of ISRO with the US and French scientists during 1970s, provided the driving force for the Indian National Satellite programme and led to the first INSAT bird take to the sky in 1982. Throughout the 1980s, there was a steady stream of space related developments. In 1984, Indo-Soviet cooperation resulted in Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma going into space aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11 the first for an Indian. In the 1990s, the indigenization programme in remote sensing and communication largely freed India from dependence for satellite technology. In 2001 the GSAT-1 and in 2003 the GSAT-2 weighing 1.3T and 1.8T respectively using the GSLVs marked the zenith of the Indian achievements.
During the course of last 3-4 decades, Indian space programme has truly come of age. It has attained the necessary critical mass that could make India a major player in space. ISRO’s indigenous content of India’s launchers is going up and up, and newer and more powerful series of satellites are being locally built. In the current millennium, India’s space science community is standing on a mountain of achievements; it has managed to build a credible programme of space research. The next target for the Indian Space Programme is sending an Indian on the moon. It is an ambitious project and given the expertise India has, it should be a successful one in the coming few years.
The story of India’s journey in space is an inspirational tale that touches all Indian hearts. India aims to be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society.
