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Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
When India gained independence from the colonial era,it was not just poverty stricken but technologically handicapped too. On one side of the globe , the USA was exploring space and proving its global supremacy and on the other side India was struggling to find its lost worth .It didn’t take much time for India to realise the value of space research and scientific development .
In the year 1962 ,Jawahar lal nehru was the prime minister of India and on the advice of scientist Vikram Sarabhai , The Indian National Committee for Space Research was created which later on developed to be known as the Indian Space Research Organisation in 1969. Since its inception, ISRO has been the core of Indian space and nuclear research. There is no denying that the credit for India’s scientific position across the globe is the result of ISRO’s contribution. Few of the scientific and nuclear milestones that are considered historical are discussed below .
Mission Aryabhatta
India is a globally recognised country because of its space exploration activities and the world will remember its first satellite that was made by ISRO . The satellite was made in India by ISRO and was named Aryabhatta after one of the most prominent Indian astronomers and mathematicians .India was not having its own launch station at that point of time and it used Soviet Union’s launch site known as Kapustin Yar.The satellite was launched on 19th April,1975 and was a symbol of India’s first step towards scientific development. It orbited the Earth 60 times but after that the satellite was lost due to a power failure inside of it.
Development of Agni
Agni is a ballistic missile which was made after a smaller missile prithvi on 22nd May,1989. It was developed under Guided Missile Development Program and can carry nuclear weapons upto five thousand km. making it the most successful missile in India at the time of its launch . Later on ,the government of India decided to sanction a fixed budget for further innovation and development of such missiles in India.. The decision proved to be extremely successful and as of today there are many missiles from the agni family contributing to the defence sector of the country .The latest addition to the Agni series was made in november ,2019 known as agni-prime.
PARAM-8000
The story of Param in India is a symbol of its first step towards self sufficiency . When the world was developing through high end technological machines,India tried to look to the USA for help and decided to purchase super computers from them. The USA refused to provide India with any high end machinery and instead offered to sell old variants . Even in the case of old variants ,it was strictly prohibited by the USA to use it for any purpose other than weather forecasting . This left India with no option other than developing a machine for itself which happened with the arrival of Param-8000— which not just took the world by storm but also proved India’s worth in the technological field.
Pokhran Nuclear Test
The experiment made India a full fledged nuclear country . India had earlier tried to conduct nuclear tests but was prohibited by the USA which had specially assigned many satellites to keep an eye on the count. But all the prohibitions and controversies went down the drain when India conducted five nuclear tests in the village of pokhran in Rajasthan on 11th May,1998 under the leadership of prime minister Atal Bihari Vjpayee. The test was conducted under the code name of operation shakti . It involved five nuclear tests ,one of which was a fusion bomb and the other fouur were fission bombs .The test was successfull and it literally shocked the whole world Although many countries critiseized the trests claiming it was a matter of grave concern but it made India more powerful and self reliant .
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
For a very long time ,India lacked a lot of things in space research, one of which was a good launch vehicle for satellites. The need for it was fulfilled with the invention of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).It is one of the most successful launch vehicles made by ISRO and has been successful since its very first use in october,1994. PSLV has launched India’s two most successful project satellites, Chandrayaan and the Mars orbiter.
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
GSLV came into existence in 2001. Although ,the project over the manufacturing of GSLV started a decade back in 1990 but at that point of time ,India lacked the cryogenic technology which was supposed to be given by Russia .But at the last moment, Russia backed out due to the intervention of the USA and ISRO made its own technology .the GSLV had only two successful launches out of seven in its initial 14 years but remains one of the most successful projects by ISRO.
Mission Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2
As India developed ,so did its dream in science. Chandrayaan-1 was the first mission launched by India to explore the moon which continued for a year. The mission was supposed to continue for a span of two years but continued only from august 2008 till august2009. During this period ,major discoveries like water in the lunar soil were made . Even though the mission shut after a year, it was a great achievement of Indian scientific development.
After the first mission ,second edition of Chandrayaan was launched in 2019 by ISRO .The mission had many expectations and plans attached to it but at the time of its scheduled landing ,it deviated from its path and the chandrayaan-2 failed. Still it was one of the most sought after and encouraging projects in India.
At present ,India is one of the most successful countries in the field of space and nuclear research .It is also one of the most sought after investment places in the field of research and nuclear development. India has come a long way from lending a launch station from Soviet Union to launch its first satellite to a place where it generates great revenue out of proving launch services to different countries.today, India is among the top countries in space exploration and has made its key agenda to include space research in its economic development as well.
Conclusion:
Hope this article has given enough insight on general scientific and technological development in space and the nuclear field.
