India’s Space Agency Making Big Strides

India’s NASA!

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the space agency of India and was formed in 1969. The purpose of the organization is to "harness space technology for national development while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration”. In recent years ISRO has developed several significant launch vehicles, placed probes in orbit around both the Moon and Mars while also setting a world record for the most satellites launched in one 2017 launch!

Interesting Facts About The Indian Space Research Space Program!

• ISRO built India's first satellite in 1975 and launched their first on an Indian-made rocket in 1980.
• ISRO has developed two distinct rockets called the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). Both of the vehicles have placed many, mainly communications (& Earth science) satellites, in orbit.
• ISRO has also developed their own liquid fuelled rocket engines in recent years.
• In October 2008 ISRO reached a major milestone for its science and exploration program by placing the probe Chandrayaan-1, in lunar orbit. The probe successfully produced a map of the Moons chemical characteristics and became the first lunar mission to discover the existence of water in the shadows of polar craters!
• Bigger successes followed ISROs Moon mission, the Mars Orbiter Mission was a probe sent to Mars and successfully entered orbit in September 2014. This made India only the 4th nation to reach Mars orbit and the first to succeed on its first attempt! A huge achievement! It was also achieved for a record low price as It was completed for only $74 million.
• In February of 2017, ISRO created another world record by launching 104 satellites on a single launch.
• In late December 2017, ISRO will launch several rovers bound for the Moon as part of the Google Lunar X Prize!
• ISRO also has ambitious plans that include reusable rockets, human spaceflight, soft landings, missions to the Sun and more interplanetary probes!