Indias Space Odyssey: A Timeline

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Hello inmates, It is time for us to put together a timeline of our great nations space achievements. We began at the right time (in the middle of the Space Race) and though we could never quite compete with the mights of the erstwhile USSR and the USA, we have still managed to do quite well and even move ahead of Japan and China in some aspects! Far from the research stations and labs, Indias space programme began at a church in what was once a tiny fishing village called Thumba, not far from Thiruvanathanapuram airport in Kerala.

In 1962, when the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was established, father of Indias nuclear programme Homi Bhabha, along with Vikram Sarabhai, evaluated a number of sites in Kerala to establish a rocket station. Finally, they zeroed in on Thumba.

But there was a hitchFisherfolk of the village, emotionally attached to the place, particularly the St Mary Magadelenes Church had to be convinced to give up the place. The task fell on a former bishop of Thiruvananthapuram. During a Sunday congregation, he spoke to the villagers about the advantages of a space programme. He then asked if they had any objections if the village was handed over to the space department. The villagers paused only a while, and chorused, Amen, indicating that they were ready to give up their village.

Space experts later commented that that it was an auspicious beginning for Indias space missions. The project was initiated with the blessings of the villagers who were resettled. The small place of worship became the mainstay for the team of rocket scientists, including A P J Abdul Kalam. The first drawings of some of the earliest rockets were made in this church, now a space museum. The conditions were anything but comfortable. Scientists travelled daily from Thiruvananthapuram in rickety buses, carrying lunch bought at the railway station. Thumba was soon turned into the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station. The first sounding rocket, Nike Apache supplied by NASA, was launched in November 1963. After this, many sounding rockets, which study the atmosphere, lifted off from Thumba including those from the US, Russia, Japan, France and Germany. Many rocket parts were carried by the scientists on bicycles from one place to another within Thumba. Even today, sounding rockets take off every week only it is now a modern station.

From the former pic to the latter, here is a brief timeline depicting the Great Indian Journey. Heres to hoping that more would come in the future as the Indian Space Research Organisation gears up to launch our first Mars orbiter mission, Mangalyaan in late-2013

1963 First sounding rocket launched from TERLS on November 21. 1980 First experimental launch of Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) carrying the Rohini satellite but satellite not placed in orbit. 1981 First developmental launch of SLV-3. Rohini placed in orbit. 1983 Second developmental flight of SLV-3. Insat system commissioned with launch of Insat-1B satellite. 1992 First successful launch of Augmented SLV (ASLV) placing SROSS-C satellite. Launch of Insat-2A, the first satellite of the indigenously-built, second-generation Insat series, followed by the 3 and 4 series.

1993 First developmental flight of Polar SLV (PSLV) with IRS-1E. 1997 First operational launch of PSLV carrying IRS-1D. 1999 PSLV started carrying foreign payloads (Korean and German satellites) along with ISRO satellite Oceansat. 2001 Successful launch of heavy rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with GSAT-1 satellite. 2004 Launch of Edusat by GSLVs first operational flight.

Giant leaps for India SLV The first experimental Satellite Launch Vehicle SLV-3 was developed in 1980. SLV-3 was a 22-m long, allsolid, four-stage vehicle weighing 17 tonnes capable of placing 40-kg class payloads in low-earth orbit ASLV An augmented version of SLV called ASLV was launched successfully in 1992 after two failed launches in 1987 and 1988. With a liftoff weight of 40 tonnes, the 23.8-m tall ASLV was configured as a five-stage, allsolid propellant vehicle with a mission to put 150-kg class satellites in 400-km circular orbits. PSLV Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the first operational rocket of ISRO capable of launching 1,600-kg satellites in 620-km sun-synchronous polar orbit and 1,050-kg satellite in geo-synchronous transfer orbit. In the standard configuration, it measures 44.4-m tall, with a liftoff weight of 295 tonnes. PSLV has had 22 continuously successful flights till February 2013, including the Chandrayaan mission. It will be used to launch the Mars orbiter later this year. GSLV Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mark-I & II) is capable of placing satellites weighing 2,000 to 2,500 kg in the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The 49-m tall vehicle has three stages and weighs 414 tonnes at liftoff. Its first flight took place in 2001. GSLV Mark-III

It is currently under development and is conceived and designed to launch much heavier communication satellites weighing 4,500 to 5,000 kg. It will be a threestage vehicle. Defenders of the realm Prithvi Surface-to-surface tactical battlefield missile. It comes in three versions with ranges of 150, 250 and 350 km. The last Prithvi missiles were fired from Chandipur in August and October 2012. Dhanush It is the naval version of the Prithvi with a range of 350 km. It was successfully flighttested on October 5, 2012, from INS Subhadra Agni-I It has a range of 700 to 1,200 km. The Strategic Forces Command has conducted several trials of the missile Agni-II It is a medium-range ballistic missile. Its range is 2,000 to 3,000 km. Agni-III An intermediate-range missile, Agni-III can hit targets beyond 3,500 km. It is considered to be one of the most accurate missiles in its class and is currently under production. Agni-IV It is also an intermediate-range missile. Several new features have been tried in this missile, including micronavigation and digital control system. Agni-V Maiden test of the missile took place on April 19, 2012. It is Indias longest-range strategic missile capable of delivering payloads to a distance of more than 5,000 km. Brahmos The 290-km range supersonic cruise missile is considered to be the best in the world in its class. The missile has been successfully deployed on naval warships. Army too has deployed it. Akash It is a medium-range, surface-to-air missile with a range of 25 km. Long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) It is being jointly developed by India and Israel. With a range of 70 km, two flight tests have been conducted successfully in Israel in 2012.

Nirbhay The long-range cruise missile, meant to move at low altitudes to avoid radar detection, was first test-fired on March 12 this year. The maiden trial failed. The missile will also have loitering capability K-15 It is an underwater-launched ballistic missile meant for nuclear submarine Arihant. The last successful trial was held in December 2012. It has a range of 650 km.

Our missile mission

1983 Indias Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme begins. 1988 First test-flight of Prithvi missile. 1989 Medium-range ballistic missile Agni-I is testlaunched. 1995-1996 The Agni missile project is suspended. 1997 Agni programme is revived in response to Pakistan testing the Hatf-III. 1999 First test of nuclear-capable Agni-II. 2001 DRDO announces that India is developing the Agni-III intermediate-range ballistic missile. 2001 The BrahMos cruise missile is launched successfully. 2004 The 350-km range Dhanush missile, naval version of the Prithvi, is successfully test-fired. 2007 Agni-III is successfully test-fired from Wheeler Island.

2010 The Agni-III ballistic missile is successfully tested again from Wheeler Island. 2011 Defence minister A.K. Antony announces India is developing Agni-V with a range of 5,000 km. 2011 Agni-IV is successfully tested from Wheeler Island. 2012 Nuclear-capable K-15 submarinelaunched ballistic missile is successfully tested. 2012 Agni-V is successfully test-fired.