Indian Space Program

In India, the space program was formerly launched in 1972 with the setting up of the Space Commission and the Department of Space. Advancement in areas of communication, meteorology, resources survey & management, develop satellites, launch vehicles & associated ground systems were the initial objectives. Since then, India has made impressive progress in this field. Space technology has not only enhanced India's communication capabilities, but has also contributed in meteorological forecasting, providing advanced disaster warning, search and rescue measures and distance education to remote areas.

At the outset, one might ask "what is a satellite?." A satellite is an object that revolves round a planet. For a successful orbiting around the earth, it's essential for a satellite to attain a speed of about 20,000 kms per hour. Satellites are launched by very powerful rockets.
Space probes costs enormously as the launching rockets cannot be recovered and used again. The space-shuttle has emerged as a remedy to this drawback. The main part of a space shuttle is an Orbiter, an aircraft about the size of an air bus. It hovers into space astride a large tank containing propellants to fuel the three main engines of the craft. Two booster rockets are strapped onto the tank; these rockets fire with the rift-off of the Orbiter's engines and fall off on exhausting the fuels. They are retained to be used again. The propellant tank is jettisoned. The Orbiter is injected into orbit and after carrying out its task, it retro-fires and descends back to earth. Due to its wings, it is easily maneuvered through the air and it lands on an ordinary runway.

From a historical perspective, the first Indian satellite was Aryabhata, which was launched by a soviet rocket on 19th April 1975. This was launched from a cosmodrome near Moscow. It was designed and built by Indian scientists and engineers of Indian Space Research Organization. Orders and instructions were transmitted