india in space essay

Essay on India in Space

Students are often asked to write an essay on India in Space in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on India in Space

Introduction.

India’s journey in space research began in 1962 with the Indian National Committee for Space Research. Its mission: to use space technology for national development.

ISRO’s Formation

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was formed in 1969. It developed India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, launched by the Soviet Union in 1975.

Moon and Mars Missions

India made history with the Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, discovering water on the moon. In 2014, the Mars Orbiter Mission made India the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit.

Future Plans

ISRO plans to explore Venus and the Sun’s corona, demonstrating India’s growing prowess in space.

250 Words Essay on India in Space

Introduction to india’s space journey.

India’s foray into space research and exploration has been a testament to its scientific prowess and determination. Initiated in 1962 with the formation of the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), it has grown into a full-fledged space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Major Milestones in India’s Space Exploration

India’s journey in space exploration has been marked by significant milestones. The launch of the first satellite, Aryabhata, in 1975 marked the beginning of India’s independent space journey. However, the launch of Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, which discovered water molecules on the moon, and the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in 2013, which made India the first Asian country to reach Martian orbit, are testaments to the country’s advanced scientific capabilities.

Current Endeavours and Future Prospects

Currently, India is working on several ambitious projects. Gaganyaan, India’s first manned space mission, aims to send astronauts into space by 2022. The Aditya-L1 mission, set for 2022, intends to study the Sun’s corona.

India’s space journey is not only about exploring the cosmos but also about leveraging space technology for societal benefits. With advancements in communication satellites, remote sensing, and satellite navigation, India is using space technology for disaster management, weather forecasting, telemedicine, and education.

India’s space journey has been a blend of scientific curiosity, national pride, and societal development. With its future missions, India is set to further its reputation as a major player in global space research and exploration. The journey of India in space is a testament to the power of a vision, scientific rigor, and indomitable determination.

500 Words Essay on India in Space

India’s journey into space is a fascinating narrative of ambition, determination, and scientific advancement. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), established in 1969, has been the driving force behind India’s space exploration, transforming the nation from a developing country to a significant player in the global space community.

ISRO’s Early Years and Achievements

ISRO’s initial years were marked by resource constraints and technological limitations. Despite these challenges, the organization launched its first satellite, Aryabhata, in 1975, marking a significant milestone in India’s space journey. The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) in 1975-76, which brought educational programs to rural areas, and the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system, launched in 1983 for telecommunication and broadcasting services, showcased the potential of space technology for societal benefits.

Technological Advancements and Mars Mission

ISRO’s technological prowess increased over the decades, culminating in the successful launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyaan, in 2013. This mission made India the first Asian country to reach Mars and the first in the world to do so on its maiden attempt. The mission was not merely a demonstration of India’s technological capabilities, but it also contributed to the global understanding of Mars, with findings about the planet’s atmosphere and surface.

Chandrayaan Missions and Lunar Exploration

India’s lunar exploration program, Chandrayaan, has also received international acclaim. Chandrayaan-1, launched in 2008, made a significant discovery of water molecules on the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-2, despite a setback in the soft landing attempt, has provided valuable data about the lunar surface and will pave the way for future missions.

The Commercial Aspect: Antrix Corporation

Recognizing the commercial potential of space technology, ISRO established Antrix Corporation in 1992. Antrix has successfully commercialized ISRO’s capabilities in satellite technology and launch services, providing cost-effective solutions to international clients and contributing to the global space economy.

Future Prospects: Gaganyaan and Beyond

ISRO’s future plans include the ambitious Gaganyaan mission, which aims to send Indian astronauts to space by 2022. This mission will significantly enhance India’s position in the global space community. Furthermore, ISRO’s plans for exploring Venus and the Sun’s corona indicate that India’s space journey is far from over.

India’s space journey represents a blend of scientific curiosity, technological prowess, and a vision for societal development. It is a testament to the nation’s capabilities and potential. As India continues to explore the vast expanse of space, it not only contributes to global scientific knowledge but also inspires future generations to dream big and strive for excellence.

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The Planetary Society • Feb 13, 2024

The history and motivations behind India's growing space program

In 2023, India became the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon. The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission helped establish India as a capable space power and bolstered its growing space ambitions.

The history of India's space program is in many ways the inverse of the history of the U.S. and Russia’s programs. While these superpowers were racing to outdo each other with symbolic, high-profile achievements that culminated in the Apollo Moon landings, India focused on the practical and immediate benefits of space.

That has recently started to change. Buoyed by the success of Chandrayaan-3 and a desire to compete with China, India has announced ambitious human spaceflight plans that include space stations and a Moon landing.

Gurbir Singh joined us on Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition on Jan. 5, 2024 to talk about the history and motivations behind India’s space program. Singh is the author of The Indian Space Programme: India's Incredible Journey from the Third World towards the First.

The original transcript has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Casey Dreier: Gurbir Singh, thank you so much for joining us on Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition this month. I'm happy you're here.

Gurbir Singh: Well, thanks very much for reaching out. I'm really delighted to be here.

Casey Dreier: This is a big topic, so we might as well start at the beginning. Why did India start a space program in 1963?

Gurbir Singh: I use the launch of the very first rocket from Indian soil as a marker for the start of the program. That was a suborbital rocket launched from southern India. The payload was a small sodium capsule, which diffused at an altitude of about 150 kilometers. Watching how that payload dispersed was the experiment. That started what we today call the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO.

At that point India had been independent [from the British] for about a decade and a half, and the space program was part of the nation-building activities that were taking place. At that time, there were post-World War II developments in England and most of Europe, such as televisions, telephones, and commercial air flights. These were really becoming available to just about everybody.

The space age had started with the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and Yuri Gagarin's flight in 1961. The Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, really believed in science. He believed that the new nation of India, independent India, should be forged on what he called the scientific temper, the temperament of science. So he put science at the forefront, and that's really why space was almost inevitable.

Casey Dreier: What's interesting to me is that India didn’t create this as a Cold War competition. It wasn’t throwing its hat in to compete directly, or to establish itself as a regional power. There were internal and domestic reasons that it wanted to establish a space capability. Is that an accurate way to think of this?

Gurbir Singh: There is a very long tradition of science in Indian history. By the time India became independent, there were many successful Indian scientists of international repute, such as Vikram Sarabhai, who's considered as the father of the Indian space program. They were bright, gifted, and came from very successful industrial families. They had a lot of cash, and they also had contacts in high society. They knew the prime minister. So they were moving in the right circles. And I think that synergy helped to kickstart India in the direction it went.

Casey Dreier: You write that, unlike the space programs being established at the time in the U.S. and Soviet Union, India’s program from the outset was wholly non-military and built to meet the social needs of its huge population. It was really almost inwardly directed as a modernizing force rather than a demonstration of technological competition or global hegemony.

Gurbir Singh: Having lived under suppression, under the control of another nation, was seen as a national humiliation. India did not want to return to that. There was a desire for self-sufficiency rather than some sort of hegemony or sense of superiority over other countries. India is probably the only country with a space program which had entirely non-military foundations, although since then, it has grown to include military aspects.

Casey Dreier: For the first few decades, ISRO focused on servicing the Indian population. But then, in the 1990s, there’s a proposal to send the Chandrayaan-1 scientific mission to the Moon. What caused this new era of exploration to develop within ISRO?

Gurbir Singh: The Moon mission and many other ISRO space programs have been influenced by similar programs in China. In 2003, China had its first human spaceflight success. In 2007, they sent a spacecraft to the Moon. They have built their own space stations. So India has been following in China’s footsteps, just like what happened in the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

If China had not gone to the Moon, India wouldn't have gone to the Moon. There's this wonderful quote in a book by the Soviet engineer Boris Chertok where he says that if there hadn't been a Gagarin, there wouldn’t have been an Armstrong.

Casey Dreier: You write that in 2013, India went to Mars with the Mars Orbiter Mission Mangalyaan because both Japan and China had tried and failed. After Mangalyaan, China followed up with its own Tianwen mission and successfully landed. Are we seeing an increase in this tit-for-tat competition?

Gurbir Singh: India went to Mars in 2013 because there was a Chinese spacecraft on board the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft launched by Russia in 2011. That spacecraft never left Earth orbit and failed. India realized that there would be an opportunity to launch a small mission to Mars in 2013, and get there before China.

The spacecraft only had five instruments, which was very stark. A few years after the ISRO chairman had served his time and wrote a book, he admitted that the whole reason why India went to Mars was because China failed, and the whole intention was to be able to say that India got to Mars before China.

We saw this behavior during the Cold War with Sputnik, Gagarin, and Valentina Tereshkova. Every country's trying to wave a flag and say, “we did this.” There's nothing politicians like more than that.

Casey Dreier: Let's talk about the Modi government's relationship to space. Would you characterize that as a natural extension of the previous government's approach to ISRO and space, or is there something different in their approach and embrace of ISRO and its ambitions?

Gurbir Singh: India has always treated ISRO as the goose that lays the golden eggs. It's something all political parties can benefit from, because apart from the fact that it allows the incumbent prime minister to wave India's flag at every ISRO success, ISRO actually is one of the more successful and competent departments of the government. It's traditionally been supported throughout India's history, regardless of the government.

In prime minister Modi's case, during the Chandrayaan-3 touchdown, he was in a live stream split screen. You could see the lander coming into land, and Modi was there waving a small Indian flag. Immediately after the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3, chairman Somanath got onto the pedestal and said, "India is on the Moon." And then he handed the microphone to the prime minister. I hadn't appreciated what an opportunity he would have to address an international audience. He made a 10-minute speech and said all the things that any politician would say.

Casey Dreier: You wrote in your 2017 book that the Modi government is a dynamic government with a nationalist and aggressive economic agenda, and it’s been positioning itself to use the Indian space program as an instrument for regional influence. Has that played out in the way that you thought it would?

Gurbir Singh: The desire for India to be a regional superpower hasn't quite worked out, mainly because India hoped to capture the launch market for nearby countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. But the growth in the international commercial space sector has meant that it's actually quite practical and cost-effective for these countries not to go to the nearest provider, India.

India’s cadence of launches is still very low. Its highest launch rate to Earth orbit or beyond has been seven launches in a year. This year alone, China has already achieved 47, and the U.S. more than 100. I think this has been driving the political changes that's opened up the commercial space sector in India.

The main thing that's been preoccupying ISRO is the Gaganyaan program. India has been developing a launch abort system, parachutes, and capsule recovery techniques. The recent signing of the Artemis Accords and the agreement to have an Indian astronaut go to the International Space Station with NASA will help accelerate the Gaganyaan program. There will be various deals of technology transfer and systems components being sold to India as a result of the collaborative arrangements that are now in place.

Casey Dreier: If the U.S. is increasingly seeing China as a competitive nation in space, then it starts to become a U.S. interest to support India as a backstop against regional influence from China.

Gurbir Singh: That's spot on, and really the reason why India signed the Artemis Accords.

The Artemis Accords would not have been as significant or profound if the International Lunar Research Station did not exist. The International Lunar Research Station is essentially an organization that China and Russia established, but now really China's running with it. The U.S. offered India a really good deal because they didn't want India to go to the International Lunar Research Station.

I think the main reason why India signed is because as part of this agreement, your president offered the Indian prime minister to come speak to a joint assembly of Congress. Any prime minister, especially one who has an election coming up next year, is not going to let that go. He had, I think, a four-day state visit to the U.S. and it's that package deal that made India sign the Artemis Accords.

Casey Dreier: In the past few years, ISRO has opened up to commercial space flight, started a serious effort for human spaceflight, announced an Indian space station, and is aiming for the Moon by 2040. This strikes me as a profound transformation of the role ISRO is going to play in Indian geopolitics.

It seems like the organization has a huge amount of capability to do things, but it's also struggling with capacity. Does that strike you as the biggest challenge facing ISRO and the Indian space community?

Gurbir Singh: I think a lack of capacity has been something that many previous ISRO chairs have identified, and that’s been the motivating factor for opening up the private space sector.

As a result of new space policies, about 200 startup space companies are now operating in India. I think this is where the future of Indian space activities lies: with ISRO helping startups and being supported by startups.

Casey Dreier: I saw that ISRO is facing a budget cut from the Modi government despite all these new ambitions being proposed. What does that tell you about the political commitment to the Indian space program?

Gurbir Singh: Generally, over the last decade or so, ISRO's budget has been increasing. It's at about one-and-a-quarter to one-and-a-half billion U.S. dollars annually. The Gaganyaan program itself, just as a standalone, multi-year program, has been awarded about one billion U.S. dollars. And there was some unspent budget from 2020 and 2021, when not much happened. The Indian economy is doing really well relative to many other Western countries. Economic growth this coming year should lead to a budget increase in the next year.

Casey Dreier: Gurbir Singh is the author of The Indian Space Programme, a book that I really enjoyed and highly recommend to anyone fascinated by this topic. Gurbir, how can people find you online?

Gurbir Singh: The web address for me is gurbir.co.uk , and if anybody's interested in my podcast, I do that on astrotalkuk.org .

Casey Dreier: Thank you so much for being here this month. I hope to have you back in the future.

Gurbir Singh: Great talking to you.

Listen to the full interview on Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition .

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Why does India want to be a space power? Chandrayaan-3 and the politics of India’s space programme

With its chandrayaan-3 mission, india has become the fourth nation to land on the moon. dimitrios stroikos has been exploring the complexities around the international politics of space, with a specific focus on china and india as rising powers, and the connections between power, technology and modernity. he sets out how india’s space programme has developed, and why its latest mission is largely a reflection of its great power aspirations..

On 14 July 2023, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in southern India that sent India’s third lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-3 , consisting of a propulsion module, a lander and a rover. The lander touched down on the surface of the moon on 23 August 2023, making India the fourth country in the world, after the United States, the Soviet Union and China, to carry out a soft landing on the moon.

According to ISRO , the three main goals of the mission were: 1) achieving a soft landing on the lunar surface; 2) realising rover roving on the lunar terrain; and 3) carrying out in-situ experiments.

After landing near the south pole region, Chandrayaan-3’s lander deployed a rover to perform in-situ analysis of the lunar surface. As outlined by ISRO, the lander and the rover have scientific payloads to explore the lunar surface, collect data and perform various experiments. From a scientific point of view, such a mission is important because the south pole region remains underexplored, and thus has the potential for scientific discoveries . For example, it is believed that this region of the moon might contain deposits of ice water. The possibility of the presence of ice water on the moon has already attracted the interest of other space agencies and private companies, especially since the extraction and use of water from the moon could support the feasibility of prolonged lunar missions and serve as a potential stepping stone towards Mars and other missions venturing deeper in space.

But while the possibilities of such discoveries hold great potential for whichever nation makes them and can contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge, as we shall see, scientific research is just one of the reasons driving India’s vigorous space endeavour.

Science alone is not usually sufficient to explain such activities. Broader political considerations and strategic dynamics may be equally or even more important drivers behind India’s forays in space and the Chandrayaan programme in particular.

More specifically, Chandrayaan-3 is not India’s first attempt at soft landing on the moon. It is essentially a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2 , which was launched in July 2019 and was designed to explore the lunar surface near the south pole. Chandrayaan-2 consisted of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, but it was considered a partial success . Although the lander was successfully separated from the orbiter, due to a communication breakdown it had a hard landing  500 metres from the designated site on the lunar surface in September 2019. However, since 2019 the orbiter has continued to operate successfully, providing valuable data about the moon, and it will also support the latest mission.

Chandrayaan-3 also comes roughly 15 years after India’s first lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-1 , which was launched in October 2008 with the goal of mapping the lunar surface. Apart from five Indian payloads, the spacecraft carried instruments from NASA, British, German and Swedish research institutes (through the European Space Agency), and Bulgaria. As such, the mission was also an example of international scientific cooperation. Eventually, Chandrayaan-1 encountered technical hurdles when ISRO lost communication with the spacecraft and the mission had to end prematurely. Still, it was considered a remarkable success, not least because data gathered from one of the NASA instruments carried on the Chandrayaan-1 mission found clear evidence of water molecules on the moon.

The international politics of outer space

Chris Alden and Dimitrios Stroikos explore the complexities around the international politics of space, addressing topics such as: the challenges underpinning the international politics of space, state and non-state engagement in space activities.

Explaining Chandrayaan and India’s space programme

Despite the fact that India has one of the world’s oldest space programmes, established in the early 1960s, the focus has been on the use of space for socio-economic development . To this end, priority was given to the development of space applications, such as communications, remote sending and meteorology, that could provide tangible practical benefits tailored to the needs of a developing and large country. This developmental rationale has been associated with the vision of Dr Vikram Sarabhai , who is considered the ‘‘father’’ of India’s space programme and was one of the most influential and respected scientists in post-independence India. Although Sarabhai was a keen supporter of the use of space technology as a way of leapfrogging some of the stages of social and economic development, he was famously against highly visible space stunts for the sake of prestige and news headlines that offered little in economic and social terms.

It was against this backdrop that Chandrayaan-1, India’s first ever space exploration mission, signalled a shift towards highly visible space projects, which seemed to be at odds with India’s traditional developmental rationale. Further reflecting this reorientation of India’s space effort, in addition to the Chandrayaan lunar programme, other notable examples include the 2013 Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) , also called Mangalyaan , and plans for India’s first human spaceflight mission, the Gaganyaan programme , which is targeted to be launched within the next few years.

As far as India is concerned, the recent focus on space exploration can largely be seen as a response to China’s emergence as a great space power.

The China factor and the quest for great power status in space

What explains this change in India’s space programme? To be sure, the potential scientific benefits of lunar missions can be significant. What is more, I have long argued that scientific internationalism has been a key feature of space activities from the beginning of the Space Age. However, science alone is not usually sufficient to explain such activities. Broader political considerations and strategic dynamics may be equally or even more important drivers behind India’s forays in space and the Chandrayaan programme in particular.

A number of observations are worth making here. First, it is useful to recognise from the outset that international imperatives have rendered space a complex domain of international relations amid a surge of interest in the use of space for military, civilian and commercial purposes. As far as India is concerned, the recent focus on space exploration can largely be seen as a response to China’s emergence as a great space power , manifested not only in a series of remarkable Chinese space achievements, but also in the ways in which Beijing uses its space programme as a foreign policy and diplomacy tool . While India’s competition with China in space increasingly involves a military component , high-profile exploration projects are part of the contest for leadership , influence and soft power in Asia, contributing to the notion of an Asian space race .

Highly visible technoscientific projects serve as markers of power, status and modernity, a practice rooted in the 19th century.

Second, and related to the previous point, underlying India’s interest in lunar exploration is its great power aspirations . Highly visible technoscientific projects serve as markers of power, status and modernity, a practice rooted in the 19th century when technoscientific advancement emerged as a standard of “civilisation” demarcating the “society of civilised states” from non-European societies through a “techno-scientific orientalist” discourse. In this way, the space programme can be understood as a powerful symbol of postcolonial India’s modernity, statehood, and national prestige . From this perspective, the pursuit of the Chandrayaan lunar programme is part of India’s effort to climb up the ladder to the top tier of the hierarchical global space order and have a bigger “seat at the table’’ of space affairs.

Domestic influences

The role of domestic politics should also be acknowledged. For example, India’s space programme is an important source of national pride and prestige, and thus Indian leaders, including the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are keen to leverage the country's achievements in space to bolster the legitimacy of their governments whenever an opportunity arises. At the same time, powerful institutions, such as ISRO, have their own organisational and bureaucratic interests that compel them to push for highly visible projects to gain political approval. Finally, apart from foreign policy and military spin-offs due to the inherent dual-use nature of space technology, Chandrayaan-3 will help to inculcate and attract young talent in space science and showcase India’s vigorous private space sector , as this is the first time that ISRO has partnered in a major mission with the private space industry.

Consequently, and given the technical problems experienced by India's previous lunar mission, the stakes for Chandrayaan-3 could not be higher. Regardless of the outcome of Chandrayaan-3, however, the success of India’s lunar programme hinges on more than simply scientific gains, encompassing broader political and strategic considerations that will continue to animate India’s space ambitions.

" International Relations and Outer Space " by Dr Dimitrios Stroikos is published by the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. 

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LSE Fellow, Department of International Relations, LSE

Dr Dimitrios Stroikos is an LSE Fellow in the Department of International Relations at LSE and Head of the Space Policy Programme at LSE IDEAS. He is also the Editor-in-chief of Space Policy: an International Journal, hosted by LSE IDEAS.

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Indian Space Program: Phases and Achievements

Last updated on January 5, 2024 by ClearIAS Team

Indian Space Research Organization ( ISRO ) is the nodal agency and flag bearer in the Indian Space Program.

The Indian Space Program is guided by a probabilistic perspective. It is a regional development instrument. This built on an optical fibre network and wireless communication devices.

Learn more about this topic.

Also read: Aditya-L1 Mission

Table of Contents

Objectives of the Indian Space Program

ISRO has also contributed to science and science education in the country. The Department of Space oversees several dedicated research centers and independent organizations for remote sensing, astronomy and astrophysics, atmospheric sciences, and space sciences in general. the objectives of the Indian Space Program are twofold:

• Space discovery and exploration through space missions.
• Promotion of research and education related to space science in the country. E.g. Tele-education in remote areas in India.

Some of the other functions of the Indian Space Program are:

• Resource management such as mineral resources, agriculture, marine resources, etc.
• Environment conservation.
• Internal security and terrorism. E.g. use of IRNSS for regional security.
• Weather forecasting.
• Disaster Management.

Also read about SSLV , PSLV , and GSLV .

Communications satellites India

Communications satellites allow radio, television, and telephone transmissions to be sent live anywhere in the world. The purpose of communications satellites is to relay the signal around the curve of the Earth allowing communication between widely separated points. Communication Satellites use Microwaves and Radio waves for transmitting signals.

Indian National Satellite (INSAT) Series

• With nine operational communication satellites in Geo-stationary orbit, the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system is one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in the Asia-Pacific area.
• INSAT System consists of 14 operational satellites, namely – INSAT-3A, 3C, 4A, 4B, 4CR, 3DR and GSAT-6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15 and 16.
• Educational TV Services
• Telemedicine Programme
• Satellite-Aided Search and Rescue
• Disaster management
• Helps in geopolitics like the SAARC satellite.
• Helps in the commercialization of space programs, like launching the communication satellites of Russia USA, etc.

Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS)

• ISRO has deployed numerous operational remote sensing satellites since IRS-1A in 1988. India now operates one of the largest constellations of remote-sensing satellites.
• IRS satellite consists of CARTOSAT, OCEANSAT & RISAT (Resource Sat) Satellites

Application of IRS satellites:

• Disaster Management Support
• BioResources and Environment survey and mapping e.g. RESOURCESAT
• Cartography e.g. CARTOSAT
• Agriculture & Soil
• Rural and Urban Development e.g. National Drinking Water mission

Important Milestones in the Indian Space Program

Phase I: 1960-70 (Incipient Stage)

• Dr. Vikram Sarabhai is regarded as a scientific visionary as well as the founding father of the Indian space programme.
• He recognized the potential of satellites after the launch of Sputnik in 1957. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, who considered scientific advancement as an important component of India’s future, placed space research under the jurisdiction of the Department of Atomic Energy in 1961.
• Homi Bhabha, the father of India’s atomic programme, then founded the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) in 1962, with Dr. Sarabhai as Chairman.
• The Indian space programme began establishing itself with the launch of sounding rockets in 1962, which was aided by India’s geographical proximity to the equator.
• Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) was built near Thiruvananthapuram in south Kerala.
• India developed an indigenous technology of sounding rockets called the Rohini Family of sounding rockets.
• The India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was established in 1969, and the Department of Space was established in 1972.

Phase II: 1970-80

• Sarabhai had participated in an early NASA study on the viability of employing satellites for uses as diverse as direct television broadcasting.
• India began developing satellite technology in anticipation of future remote sensing and communication requirements.
• India’s first venture into space occurred in 1975, with the launch of their satellite Aryabhata by a Soviet launcher.
• By 1979, the SLV was ready to launch from the Sriharikota Rocket Launching Station, a newly created second launch site (SRLS).
• The first launch in 1979 failed due to a control malfunction in the second stage. This problem had been solved by 1980.
• The first indigenous satellite launched by India was called Rohini.

Phase III: 1980-90

• Following the success of the SLV, ISRO was eager to begin work on a satellite launch vehicle capable of placing a truly useful satellite into polar orbit.
• In 1987, the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) was tested, but the launch failed. After modest adjustments, another launch attempt was made in 1988, which also failed.

Phase IV: 1990-2000

• It was not until 1992 that the first successful launch of the ASLV took place.
• Since its first successful launch in 1994, the PSLV has become the workhorse launch vehicle, launching both remote sensing and communications satellites into orbit, establishing the world’s largest cluster, and giving unique data to Indian industry and agriculture.

Developments after 2000

• In 2001, the first development flight of the GSLV took place.
• As the first attempt at exploring the solar system, India pursued a mission to send unmanned probes to the moon in 2008 namely Chandrayaan.
• ISRO has entered the lucrative industry of launching foreign payloads from Indian soil using its rockets.
• After 2010, ISRO embarked on the following programmes: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), and next-generation GSLV Mark-III launch vehicle missions are part of the launch vehicle development programme.
• The Earth Observation programme includes cutting-edge Indian remote sensing (IRS) satellites such as Resourcesat, Cartosat, Oceansat, Radar Imaging Satellite, Geo-Imaging Satellite, and weather/climate satellites such as INSAT-3DR missions.
• The satellite navigation programme consists of a constellation of seven Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) satellites and an associated ground segment designed to deliver accurate positional and timing information.

India’s Manned Mission to Space

• Three flights will be sent into orbit.
• There will be two unmanned flights and one human spaceflight.
• The Gaganyaan system module, known as the Orbital Module, would house three Indian astronauts, one of whom would be a woman.
• For 5-7 days, it will circle the Earth in a low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 300-400 km.
• In addition, to assure crew safety during the Gaganyaan mission, ISRO will perform two unmanned ‘Abort Missions’ in 2022.

Scramjet (Supersonic Combusting Ramjet) engine

• In August 2016, ISRO successfully conducted the Scramjet (Supersonic Combusting Ramjet) engine test.
• The Scramjet engine uses Hydrogen as fuel and Oxygen from the atmospheric air as the oxidizer.
• This test was the maiden short-duration experimental test of ISRO’s Scramjet engine with a hypersonic flight at Mach 6.
• ISRO’s Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), a futuristic-sounding rocket, served as the solid rocket booster for the supersonic testing of Scramjet engines.
• The new propulsion system will complement ISRO’s reusable launch vehicle that will have a longer flight duration.
• IN-SPACe was launched to provide a level playing field for private companies to use Indian space infrastructure.
• It serves as a single point of contact between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and anyone interested in participating in space-related activities or utilizing India’s space resources.

NewSpace India Limited (NSIL):

• It is a Central Public Sector Enterprise of the Government of India that was founded in 2019 and is managed by the Department of Space.
• It is ISRO’s commercial arm, and its major purpose is to enable Indian enterprises to engage in high-technology space-related operations.
• It is headquartered in Bengaluru.

Indian Space Association (ISpA):

• ISpAaspires to be the collective voice of the Indian Space industry. ISpA will be represented by leading domestic and global corporations that have advanced capabilities in space and satellite technologies.

Amazonia-1:

• The 53 rd flight of PSLV-C51 marked the first dedicated mission for New Space India Ltd (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO.
• Amazonia-1, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) optical earth observation satellite, would offer users remote sensing data for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon region and analyzing diverse agriculture across the Brazilian territory.

UNITYsat (three satellites):

• They have been deployed to provide Radio relay services.
• Satish Dhawan Satellite (SDSAT) is a nanosatellite intended to study the radiation levels/space weather and demonstrate long-range communication technologies.

Upcoming Missions:

• Chandrayaan-3 Mission:   Chandrayaan-3 is likely to be launched during the third quarter of 2022.
• EOS-4 (Risat-1A) and EOS-6 (Oceansat-3) — will be launched using ISRO’s workhorse PSLV, and the third one,  EOS-2 (Microsat) , will be launched in the first developmental flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV).
• These satellites will be launched in the first quarter of 2022.
• Shukrayaan Mission:  The ISRO is also planning a mission to Venus, tentatively called Shukrayaan .
• Own Space Station : India is planning to launch its space station by 2030 , joining the league of the US, Russia, and China to an elite space club
• XpoSat:  Space observatory, XpoSat, designed to study cosmic x-rays.
• There are five Lagrangian points between any two celestial bodies on the satellite where the gravitational attraction of both bodies is equivalent to the force required to keep the satellite in orbit without spending fuel, implying a parking area in space.

Also read:  Space missions in 2024

Article Written by: Remya

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Analysis and Space

How india has slowly but surely become a major player in space.

India’s space agency has been remarkably successful in recent years, growing the country’s prestige on the global stage – and the 2024 election is unlikely to change that

By Leah Crane

30 April 2024

India launched Chandrayaan-3 to the moon last year

If India seems like a latecomer to space flight, it is only because the country’s space agency has been slowly and steadily growing for decades, catching up with the original major players. When the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft managed the first ever soft landing near the south pole of the moon in 2023, it marked a triumph for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and a sign that the agency’s unique way of operating makes it capable of great things.

Can India build a world-leading computer chip industry from scratch?

The strategy that has made all of this work was championed in the 1960s by Vikram Sarabhai, often considered the father of the Indian space programme. He rejected the idea that the country had to work its way up through every stage of learning how to do space flight , instead insisting on “leapfrogging”, using knowledge that had already been gained by other nations along with expertise developed at home.

“What you’re seeing now is the product of four decades of serious investment in this programme that a lot of people dismissed as being inappropriate for a developing country, but turns out to have been a smart decision all along,” says Itty Abraham at Arizona State University. “It’s done a great job of absorbing technologies from different countries and stitching them together to make something that’s uniquely Indian.”

Why it's a big deal that India beat Russia in the new race to the moon

The Chandrayaan-3 mission is a perfect example of this. ISRO has stated that the budget for the mission was only £60 million ($74 million), less than the cost of a commercial aeroplane and an astonishingly low price tag for a spacecraft. This was enabled in part by the use of more cost-effective off-the-shelf parts alongside custom-built ones, as well as contracts with private companies for some of the spacecraft development and manufacturing.

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That private company involvement is relatively new for ISRO, a change heralded by Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister since 2014. “Where Modi has made a difference is that he has encouraged the private sector to step in in a way that is very unusual for Indian government programmes,” says Abraham. “If you look at the other government projects, the private sector is there but in a very small way.” ISRO didn’t respond to a request for comment.

But more broadly, India’s election is unlikely to change ISRO’s direction, given the geopolitical prestige that comes with success in space. “The space programme has managed to remain independent for so long because it’s been successful,” says Abraham. “In this case, it doesn’t matter who’s in charge – they’re all going to throw money at it.”

This article is part of a special series on India’s election.

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What’s Next for India in Space Exploration

In addition to the scientific results of Chandrayaan-3, India is preparing a joint lunar exploration with Japan.

By Hari Kumar and Mujib Mashal

• Aug. 23, 2023

India has a busy decade of space exploration ahead.

S. Somanath, the director of Indian Space Research Organization, has described the current moment as an inflection point, as the country opens its space programs to private investors after half a century of state monopoly that made advances but at “a shoestring budget mode of working.”

A large share of India’s space efforts in the coming years will focus on the moon.

In addition to the scientific results of Chandrayaan-3, India is preparing a joint lunar exploration with Japan, in which India will provide the lander and Japan the launch vehicle and the rover. The robotic mission, known as LUPEX, is also intended for exploring the South Pole of the moon.

Although an Indian astronaut flew to orbit in 1984, the country has never sent humans to space on its own. It is therefore preparing its first astronaut mission to space, called Gaganyaan. But the project, which aims to send three Indian astronauts to space on the country’s own spacecraft, has faced delays, and ISRO has not announced a date for it.

ISRO will first have to conduct a test flight of the Gaganyaan spacecraft with no astronauts aboard. Officials have said they are at the stage of perfecting the crew escape system, and they said this month that they had tested the drogue parachutes, which help stabilize the capsule that the astronauts will ride as they return to Earth.

Additionally, India is preparing for the Aditya-L1 mission, which plans to study the sun, in early September. ISRO officials have said that it will carry seven payloads to study the photosphere chromosphere and the outermost layers of the sun using electromagnetic and particle detectors.

Another mission is the collaborative NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, which will monitor changes in our planet’s land and ice surfaces from orbit. It is slated to launch from India next year.

The country will also launch a second Mars orbiter mission. The first Mars mission, Mangalyaan, successfully entered the planet’s orbit in 2014 and remained in communication with ISRO until the mission concluded in 2022 when the spacecraft lost power . It made India the first country to achieve Martian orbit on its first attempt, and demonstrated that the country could show scientific prowess even when resources are constrained: The mission’s budget of about $75 million was less than the $100 million budget of the Hollywood space film “Gravity.”

Hari Kumar is a reporter in the New Delhi bureau. He joined The Times in 1997. More about Hari Kumar

Mujib Mashal is The Times’s bureau chief for South Asia. Born in Kabul, he wrote for magazines including The Atlantic, Harper’s and Time before joining The Times. More about Mujib Mashal

What’s Up in Space and Astronomy

Keep track of things going on in our solar system and all around the universe..

Never miss an eclipse, a meteor shower, a rocket launch or any other 2024 event  that’s out of this world with  our space and astronomy calendar .

A dramatic blast from the sun  set off the highest-level geomagnetic storm in Earth’s atmosphere, making the northern lights visible around the world .

With the help of Google Cloud, scientists who hunt killer asteroids churned through hundreds of thousands of images of the night sky to reveal 27,500 overlooked space rocks in the solar system .

A celestial image, an Impressionistic swirl of color in the center of the Milky Way, represents a first step toward understanding the role of magnetic fields  in the cycle of stellar death and rebirth.

Scientists may have discovered a major flaw in their understanding of dark energy, a mysterious cosmic force . That could be good news for the fate of the universe.

Is Pluto a planet? And what is a planet, anyway? Test your knowledge here .

India's strategy in space is changing. Here's why

Image:  REUTERS/P. Ravikumar - RC1E55233870

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Half a century after humans first walked on the Moon, space is still as much about scientific discovery as it is about strategic competition.

As was the case during the Cold War, outer space is an arena of terrestrial geopolitics. We can see this in the increased impetus for competition in various achievements in outer space, such as Moon landings, Mars exploration and, more directly, in the creation of space forces in various countries – France being the latest to announce it intends to establish a space command to improve defence capabilities.

Yet, despite outer space being once again a field of power competition, there are also some differences from the Cold War years. First, and most significantly, there are many more countries and actors involved: in Asia itself, China, Japan and India are major spacefaring nations, and smaller players such as South Korea, Australia and Singapore are developing their own space programmes.

Added to the increase in countries is the entry of the private sector into space. A key difference in the new geopolitics of space is that both terrestrial competition – and its reflection in outer space – is now along multiple axes, rather than just the single U.S.-Soviet one.

Today, there is increasing power competition in Asia, particularly between China and its neighbours - India, Japan and Australia. Some of this is also reflected in outer space. As a corollary, we are also beginning to see greater cooperation between some countries in outer space, including India and Japan, both of which are concerned about the rise of China.

India also cooperates in space with the US, Russia and France. Much of the competition India has on land, on the other hand, is with China. Therefore, India has negligible cooperation with China in space, and equally, little competition with the other space actors.

A competitive chain reaction that (sometimes) reaches space

What occurs in space can be the result of a geopolitical chain reaction. For instance, consider the US-China-India relationship: China often takes action because of its strategic competition with the United States.

This has an impact on India, forcing India to respond. But India’s response to China has an effect on Pakistan, which then responds to India. This cascade can be seen on land, and at times, in space. For example, China’s first successful anti-satellite (ASAT) test in January 2007 was to demonstrate a catch-up effort with the United States. But once China tested its ASAT in 2007, India had little choice but to develop its own ASAT because of the need of deterrence.

But in the space arena, the competitive cascade does not travel all the way to Pakistan because Pakistan’s space programme is underdeveloped. While Pakistan has expended considerable national wealth in keeping pace with India in its nuclear and missile capabilities, it has not done so with regard to outer space.

On the other hand, there might be a security incentive for Pakistan to demonstrate that it also has an ASAT capability.

Pakistan could also develop other counterspace capabilities, including cyber and electronic means to target India’s space assets. While this remains speculative so far, the history of India-Pakistan competition suggests that this remains a possibility.

Evolution of strategy

India had long maintained a rather doctrinaire approach toward space security, emphasising the peaceful uses of outer space and opposing the weaponization and militarization of space. Thus, India had opposed the US Strategic Defense Initiative programme and other efforts to build ballistic missile defences, let alone deploying ASAT systems. The reasons for such an approach was fairly clear: India did not house these capabilities.

But by the early 2000s, India’s position had begun to change as Pakistan began acquiring long-range missiles. India felt the need to build ballistic missile defences, leading New Delhi to take a sympathetic view of the George W. Bush administration’s decision to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty in late 2001. By the end of the decade, as India’s own capabilities increased, it was clear that India was becoming more discriminating in its attitude towards space security.

China’s ASAT test in 2007 helped advance India’s process of revaluating its space strategy. India realised that its growing investments in outer space - until then largely civilian in nature - were now under threat from China’s new security capabilities. India also started thinking more about how to manage outer space for security purposes. As a result, India established a space cell under its Integrated Defence Headquarters shortly after China’s ASAT test.

In April 2019, India established the Defence Space Agency (DSA) as an interim measure to command the military’s space capabilities. All of this meant that India had to have a much more nuanced position than a blanket approach that opposed any militarization or weaponization of outer space.

However, the consequences of unbridled militarization and the weaponization of outer space has negative implications for India. Therefore, while India is pursuing a strategy that satisfies its own security interests, it still wants some international control on the militarization and weaponization of outer space.

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English Essay on “India in Space” Astronomy Essay, Paragraph, Speech for Class 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 Exam.

India in space.

In India, the space program we were 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, and management, develop satellites, launch vehicles, and 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 to meteorological forecasting, providing advanced disaster warnings, search and rescue measures, and distance education to remote areas.

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 the Indian Space Research Organization. Orders and instructions were transmitted to the experimental 360 kg satellite Aryabhata from the control station at Sriharikota.

Bhaskara-I was the second Indian satellite and Bhaskara-II the third which were launched from the same Soviet cosmodrome mainly for observations on the earth.

With the successful launch of SLV-3 on 18th July 1980 when a 35 kg satellite called Rohini I was placed in LEO, India became only the seventh nation in the world to achieve space orbit capability. This was the first time when a satellite was launched from Indian soil.

This was followed by the development of SLV-3 D1, launched, on 31st May 1981 injecting a 38 kg Rohini-Dl satellite into an orbit near the earth. Its life ended prematurely, nine days after the launch instead of 90 days as envisaged.

The second development flight SLV-3 D was launched on April 17, 1983, from the launch pad Sriharikota. It put the 41.5 kg Rohini satellite RS-D2 into low earth orbit. It carried a two-band solid-state camera called ‘smart sensors’ to take images of identification of landmarks for orbit.

It could also classify the ground features such as water, vegetation, cloud, and snow and helped in evaluating the performance of the vehicle for future flights.

APPLE, which is an abbreviation of the Ariane Passengers Payload Experiment, was India’s first geostationary telecommunication satellite.

It was shot into orbit on June 19, 1981, by European Space Agency’s Ariane rocket from Kourou in French Guyana. Since 1982, a series of multi-purpose application satellites like INSAT-1A, INSAT-1B, INSAT-1C INSAT-1D, INSAT-2A, INSAT-2B, INSAT-2C, INSAT-2D, INSAT-2E, and INSAT-3B has been launched. LNSAT-1B and INSAT-1C are geostationary satellites. Nowadays, INSAT-1B is used extensively for weather forecasting.

INSAT-1B is also used to r&eive and retransmit telephone calls. INSAT-2A launched in 1992, is the first indigenously built multi-utility satellite, hurled into space by Ariane’s vehicle from Kourou.

Launched on March 22, 2000, INSAT1 3B is the first satellite from the third generation, is meant for business, development, and mobile communication.

The telecommunication and mass communication capabilities of the INSAT system, which is linked with the International Telecommunication Satellite (INTELSAT), is being used by the Oil & Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), the Indian Post & Telegraph Department with 28 fixed and 3 transportable stations, Doordarshan, Indian Meteorological Department, All India Radio, etc.

India’s first operational Earth Observation satellite IRS- 1 A, an 850 kg satellite was launched into a 900 km polar orbit on 17th March 1988 by a Soviet rocket. In 1997, India used its own rocket PSLV to place IRS-1D into polar orbit.

On April 18, 2001, GSAT-1 was successfully launched by India’s first development flight of GSIAT-1 from Sriharikota in A.P.

It marked the maturing of India’s space lunch capabilities. The satellite is meant for conducting communication experiments. And on October 22, 2001, ISRO’S Polar Satellite. Launch Vehicle (PSLV) successfully launched three satellites Technology Experiments Satellite (TES) of India, Bispectral Infrared Detection Satellite (BIRD) of Germany, and Project for On-Board Autonomy (PROBA) of Belgium.

The principal rocket & satellite testing and launching station are SHAR in Sriharikota island in Andhra Pradesh. The IS RO satellite center in Bangalore has the primary responsibility for planning, design, development, fabrication, integration, test, and qualification of satellites.

The primary tasks of the Space Application Centre at Ahmedabad are to conceptualize, plan and execute projects. National Remote Sensing Agency at Secunderabad, an autonomous registered society supported by the Department of Space, utilizes modern remote sensing techniques for planning and management of the country’s natural resources and provides Operational support for various users.

The experimental data of NRSA finds application in many fields such as land use, pollution monitoring, soil classification, agriculture, etc. cartography, geological and geographical survey, oceanography, agriculture, etc.

Satellite technology has strengthened existing telegraphy, telephony, wireless telegraphy, and also radio communication. Bio-prospecting in India is becoming a lot easier, with satellites helping Indian scientists reap nature’s benefits.

Scientists are using the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites to map vegetation, ecological zones, and landscapes to provide valuable information that biologists could use in their hunt for new resources. Researchers from more than a dozen institutes have teamed up for the research project supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Department of Space (DOS).

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Essay on “India in Space” Complete Essay for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

India in Space

In India, the space program we 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 and management, develop satellites, launch vehicles and 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.

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 to the experimental 360 kg satellite Aryabhata from the control station at Sriharikota.

Bhaskara-I was the second Indian satellite and Bhaskara-II the third which were launched from the same Soviet cosmodrome mainly for observations on the earth.

With the successful launch of SLV-3 on 18th July, 1980 when a 35 kg satellite called Rohini I was placed in LEO, India became only the seventh nation in the world to achieve space orbit capability. This was the first time when a satellite was launched from Indian soil. This was followed by the development of SLV-3 D1, launched on 31st May 1981 injecting a 38 kg Rohini-D1 satellite into an orbit near the earth. Its life ended prematurely, nine days after the launch instead of 90 days as envisaged. The second development flight SLV-3 D was launched on April 17, 1983 from the launch pad Sriharikota. It put the 41.5 kg Rohini satellite RS-D2 into low earth orbit. It carried a two-band solid state camera called ‘smart sensors’ to take images of identification of landmarks for orbit. It could also classify the ground features such as water, vegetation, cloud and snow and helped in evaluating the vehicles performance for future flights.

APPLE, which is an abbreviation of Ariane Passengers Payload Experiment, was India’s first geostationary telecommunication satellite. It was shot into orbit on June 19, 1981 by European Space Agency’s Ariane rocket from Kourou in French Guyana.

Since 1982, a series of multi-purpose application satellites like I NSAT-1A, I NSAT-1 B, I NSAT-1C I N SAT-1 D, I NSAT-2A, I NSAT-2B, INSAT-2C, INSAT-2D, INSAT-2E and INSAT-3B have been launched. INSAT-1B and INSAT-1C are geostationary satellites. Nowadays, INSAT-1 B is used extensively for weather forecasting. INSAT-1 B is also used to receive and retransmit telephone calls. INSAT-2A launched in 1992, is the first indigenously built multi-utility satellite, hurled into space by Ariane vehicle from Kourou. Lounched on March 22, 2000 INSAT- 3B is the first satellite from third generation, is meant for business, development and mobile communication. The telecommunication and mass communication capabilities of the INSAT system, which is linked with the International Telecommunication Satellite (INTELSAT), is being used by the Oil & Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), the Indian Post &Telegraph Department with 28 fixed and 3 transportable stations, Doordarshan, Indian Meteorological Department, All India Radio, etc.

India’s first operational Earth Observation satellite IRS- 1A, a 850 kg satellite was launched into a 900 km polar orbit on 17th March, 1988 by a Soviet rocket. In 1997, India used its own rocket PSLV to place IRS-1 D into polar orbit. On April 18, 2001, GSAT-1 was successfully launched by India’s first development flight of GSLV-1 from Shriharikota in A.P. It marked the maturing of India’s space launch capabilities. The satellite is meant for conducting communication experiments. And on October 22, 2001, ISRO’S Polar Satellite Launch Vechile (PSLV) successfully launched three satellites Technology Experiments Satellite (TES) of India, Bispectral Infrared Detection Satellite (BIRD) of Germany and Project for on Board Autonomy (PROBA) of Belgium.

The principal rocket & satellite testing and launching station is SHAR in Sriharikota island in Andhra Pradesh. The ISRO satellite centre in Bangalore has the primary responsibility for planning, design, development, fabrication, integration, test and qualification of satellites. The primary tasks of the Space Application Centre at Ahmedabad are to conceptualise, plan and execute projects. National Remote Sensing Agency at Secunderabad, an autonomous registered society supported by Department of Space, utilizes modern remote sensing techniques for planning and management of the country’s natural resources and provides operational support for various users. The experimental data of NRSA finds application in many fields such as land use, pollution monitoring, soil classification, cartography, geological and geographical survey, oceanography, agriculture, etc.

Satellite technology have strengthened existing telegraphy, telephony, wireless telegraphy and also radio communication. Bio-prospecting in India is becoming a lot easier, with satellites helping Indian scientists reap nature’s benefits. Scientists are using the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites to map vegetation, ecological zones and landscapes to provide valuable information that biologists could use in their hunt for new resources. Researchers from more than a dozen institutes have teamed up for the research, project supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Department of Space (DOS).

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Essay on ISRO

500 words essay on isro.

ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organization, is India’s national space agency that is located in the city of Bengaluru. Furthermore, the Department of Space Government of India controls the ISRO space agency. Let us learn more about this space agency with this essay on ISRO.

                                                                                                                                 Essay On Isro

About the ISRO Space Agency

The formation of ISRO took place in the year 1969. Furthermore, the vision behind the establishment of ISRO was to develop and harness space technology in national development. Moreover, this development and harnessing of space technology were to take place while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration.

ISRO is the successor of the Indian National Committee for Space Research whose establishment took place in the year 1962. ISRO now enjoys the reputation of being among the elite space agencies in the world.

As of now, ISRO is the primary Indian agency to perform activities related to the development of new technologies, space exploration, and space-based applications. Moreover, ISRO is among the only six government agencies that operate large fleets of artificial satellites, deploys cryogenic engines, undertakes extraterrestrial missions, and has full launch capabilities.

Throughout many years, ISRO incorporates space service for the benefit of the common man as well as the nation. Moreover, the maintenance of one of the largest fleets of communication satellites and remote sensing satellites takes place by ISRO. They serve the roles of fast and reliable communication as well as Earth observation.

Achievements of ISRO

The first Indian satellite that was built by ISRO was Aryabhata, whose launching took place on April 19 th , 1975. Furthermore, 1980 was another important year for ISRO because the launching of the Rohini satellite took place. Moreover, the successful placing of Rohini in the orbit took place by SLV-3.

In the year 2014 January, ISRO made use of an indigenously built cryogenic engine for GSLV-D5. Also, this was the launch of the GSAT-14 satellite . Most noteworthy, this made India one of the only six countries to develop a cryogenic technology.

Apart from technological capabilities, a lot of contribution has taken place by ISRO in the field of science. Furthermore, ISRO is in charge of its own Lunar and interplanetary missions. Moreover, ISRO controls various specific projects for the promotion of science education, and also to provide data to the scientific community.

The development of two rockets has taken place by ISRO, which are the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). Moreover, ISRO sent Chandrayaan-1, a lunar orbiter, on October 22nd 2008, which made the spectacular discovery of lunar water in ice form.

The Mars Orbiter Mission was sent by ISRO on November 5th 2013, which made its entry into the orbit of Mars on September 24th 2014, thereby making India successful with its attempt to Mars.

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Conclusion of the Essay on ISRO

There is no doubt that ISRO is really the pride of India. Furthermore, it has boosted the reputation of India in the world as a nation of scientific thought and development. Hopefully, ISRO will continue on its noble mission of space and technological exploration in the future.

FAQs For Essay on ISRO

Question 1: Mention some of the activities of ISRO?

Answer 1: Some of the activities of ISRO are the operation of large fleets of artificial satellites, deployment of cryogenic engines, undertaking extraterrestrial missions, and full launching capabilities.

Question 2: Mention any two satellites launched by ISRO?

Answer 2: Two satellites launched by ISRO are Aryabhata and Rohini. Furthermore, Aryabhata was the first Indian satellite that was built by ISRO. Moreover, Rohini was the first satellite whose placing took place in the orbit by SLV-3.

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India plans Chandrayaan-4 moon sample return, will involve private sector

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HELSINKI — India is developing plans for its Chandrayaan-4 moon sample return mission that will include the country’s emerging private sector.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working on plans for the moon sample return as part of its followup to last year’s successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing.

The multi-launch, multi-spacecraft mission would aim to land at Shiv Shakti Point, the landing site of Chandrayaan-3. The aim is to collect an unspecified mass of lunar samples and deliver them to Earth.

Nilesh Desai, Director of the Space Applications Centre (SAC), revealed the details in a presentation marking National Technology Day at SAC in Ahmedabad. “We are working on that and hopefully in the next four or five years or so. This also opens up many new technologies. The private sector also is going to be involved in a big way,” Desai said.

India has made a series of efforts to foster a private space sector, including a new national space policy introduced in 2023. Leveraging this for a flagship mission would be another such move. The country is also chasing a surge in civil and private launches in the near future.

The Chandrayaan-4 mission will be complex. Two separate launch vehicles to launch four spacecraft: A PSLV and a LVM-3. The former will send a transfer module (TM) and reentry module (RM) into a sub-geostationary transfer orbit, gradually raising to lunar distance. The latter will launch a lander module (LM) and ascender module (AM). A propulsion module will assist the latter pair. 

The RM and TM will park in lunar orbit while the LM and AM descend to the moon. Operations on the lunar surface will take place within a single lunar day. A robotic arm will transfer collected samples to the AM. This will then launch into lunar orbit to rendezvous with the TM. A robotic arm aboard the TM will transfer samples to the RM before heading to Earth. The RM will then separate from the TM close to Earth for reentry and landing.

It is unclear if funding for the mission has been secured, but ISRO plans state it would launch no earlier than 2028. 

As the mission profile includes lunar orbit rendezvous and docking techniques, rather than a direct return of samples to Earth, it would also have applicability for future crewed lunar missions. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2023 announced a 2040 target for putting astronauts on the moon.

ISRO Chairman S. Somanath last year gave a presentation with Chandrayaan-4 as part of a roadmap envisioning Indian astronauts on the moon and a base around 2047.

Indian Moon base in the 2040s? ISRO chairman S. Somanath gave a lecture at ISG-ISRS 2023, outlining an integrated lunar exploration roadmap with the long term plan of a lunar base around 2047. Reiterates plan announced last month for a crewed lunar landing by 2040. Ambitious. pic.twitter.com/GS4HU8BOiz — Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) November 30, 2023

India is also working on the Lunar Polar Exploration ( LuPEx ) mission with Japan. That is to consist of an ISRO lander and a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) rover to explore permanently shadowed craters. The mission will launch on a Japanese H3 rocket.

ISRO’s own part in the mission is again unclear in terms of budget and approval. India’s suggested launch dates appear to be later than those in Japanese statements. The mission will aim to land at exactly 90 degrees at the lunar south pole, Desai said.

Desai also touched on plans for a Mars Lander Mission (MLM), a followup to the 2013 Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). 

“Going there for nine months and then landing, that is the biggest challenge,” Desai noted. He also listed critical technologies for the mission as a supersonic parachute, aerodynamic design for landing, and a sky-crane for lander deployment. An LVM-3 would launch MLM, while a relay satellite would be launched on a PSLV.

A range of proposed science payloads for a mission rover include a ground-penetrating radar, mineral-mapping spectrometers, a raman spectrometer for seeking biosignatures, a range of cameras and an in-situ resource utilization instrument.

India’s MOM mission made it the first Asian nation to put a spacecraft in Mars orbit. Only the United States and China have successfully landed and operated rovers on Mars.

Andrew Jones

Andrew Jones covers China's space industry for SpaceNews. Andrew has previously lived in China and reported from major space conferences there. Based in Helsinki, Finland, he has written for National Geographic, New Scientist, Smithsonian Magazine, Sky... More by Andrew Jones

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INDIA’S ACHIEVEMENTS IN SPACE

SPACE, when we hear this word one organisation comes in our minds i.e. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). ISRO is the pioneer space exploration agency of the Government of India, headquartered at Bengaluru. ISRO was set up in 1969 with a vision to develop and harness space technology in national development, while pursuing planetary exploration and space science research.

Before coming to ISRO and its achievements, let us first take a ride in past to understand the history of Indian space research. The space research activities were initiated in India during the early 1960’s, when applications using satellites were in experimental stages even in the United States. With the live transmission of Tokyo Olympic Games across the Pacific by the American satellite ‘Syncom-3’ demonstrating the power of communication satellites, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the founding father of Indian space programme, quickly recognised the benefits of space technologies for India.

Dr. Sarabhai was convinced and envisioned that the resources in space have the potential to address the real problems of society. As Director, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) located in Ahmedabad, Dr. Sarabhai convened an army of able and brilliant scientists, anthropologists, communicators and social scientists from all corners of the country to spearhead the Indian space programme.

India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru, who saw scientific development as an essential part of India’s future, placed space research under the jurisdiction of the Department of Atomic Energy in 1961. The DAE Director Homi Bhabha, who was father of India’s atomic programme, then, established the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) with Dr. Sarabhai as Chairman in 1962.

The Indian Rohini programme continued to launch sounding rockets of greater size and complexity, and the space programme was expanded and eventually given its own Government Department, separate from the Department of Atomic Energy. On August 15, 1969 the ISRO was created from the INCOSPAR programme under the DAE, continued under the Space Commission and finally the Department of Space was created in June 1972.

In the 1960s, Sarabhai had taken part in an early study with NASA regarding the feasibility of using satellites for applications as wide as direct television broadcasting, and this study had found that it was the most economical way of transmitting such broadcasts. Having recognised the benefits that the satellites could bring to India from the very start, Sarabhai and the ISRO set about designing and creating an independent launch vehicle, capable of launching into orbit, and providing the valuable experience needed for the construction of larger launch vehicles in future. Recognising the advanced capability India had in building solid motors with the Rohini series, and that other nations had favoured solid rockets for similar projects, the ISRO set about building the technology and infrastructure for the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV). Inspired by the American Scout rocket, the vehicle would be a four-stage all-solid vehicle.

The Aryabhata satellite, launched in 1975 from Kapustin Yar using a Soviet Cosmos-3M launch vehicle, was India’s first satellite. By 1979, the SLV was ready to be launched from a newly-established second launch site, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC). The first launch in 1979 was a failure, attributed to a control failure in the second stage. By 1980, this problem had been worked out. The first indigenous satellite launched by India was Rohini-1.

Following the success of the SLV, ISRO was keen to begin construction of a satellite launch vehicle that would be able to put truly useful satellites into polar orbits. Design of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was soon underway. This vehicle was designed as India’s workhorse launch system, taking advantage of both old technology with large reliable solid stages, and new liquid engines. At the same time, it was decided by the ISRO management that it would be prudent to develop a smaller rocket, based on the SLV that would serve as a testbed for many of the new technologies that would be used on the PSLV. The Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) would test technologies like strap-on boosters and new guidance systems; so that experience could be gained before the PSLV went into full production.

It was not until 1992 that the first successful launch of the ASLV took place. At this point, the launch vehicle, which could only put very small payload into orbit, had achieved its objective. In 1993 the time had come for the maiden flight of the PSLV. The first launch was a failure. The first successful launch took place in 1994, and since then, the PSLV has become the workhorse launch vehicle—placing both remote sensing and communications satellites into orbit, creating the largest cluster in the world and providing unique data.

The first development flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) took place in 2001. The indigenous cryogenic engine for the GSLV’s upper stage was tested in 2007. ISRO had reconsidered the effectiveness of the GSLV for the needs of the 2000-2010 decade and began development of an indigenous and new heavy launch vehicle, GSLV III. After several delays and a sub-orbital test flight in December 2014, ISRO successfully conducted the first orbital test launch of GSLV III in June 2017.

Chandrayaan, 2008: ISRO sent a small robotic spacecraft into lunar orbit, mounted on a modified PSLV in order to survey the surface of moon in greater detail than ever before an attempt to locate resources.

AVATAR Scramjet: This is a long-term project to develop a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) restricted to the launch of satellites. Theoretically, AVATAR was to be a cost-effective launch vehicle for small satellites and therefore a commercially competitive launch system. ISRO successfully tested a scramjet air breathing engine which produced Mach 6 for seven seconds. ISRO continued research related to using scramjets in RLVs since 2010.

ISRO achieved a significant milestone through the successful test of indigenously developed Cryogenic Stage, to be employed as the upper stage of India’s GSLV. The test was conducted for its full flight duration of 720 seconds on November 15, 2007 at Liquid Propulsion test facility at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu. With this test, the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage has been fully qualified on the ground. The flight stage was ready for use in the next mission of GSLV (GSLV-D3) in 2008.

On April 28, 2008, ISRO successfully launched 10 satellites in a single mission. These include 690 kg CARTOSTAT-2 and another 83 kg mini Indian satellite, IMS-1; and eight other nanosatellites made by various universities; and R&D institutions in Canada and Germany offered at a subsidised price as part of a goodwill gesture by the Indian Department of Space.

Mangalyaan, 2014: India joined an exclusive global club when it successfully launched the Mars Orbiter Mission on a shoestring budget that was at least 10 times lower than a similar project by the US. Only the US, Russia and Europe had previously sent missions to Mars, but what made India’s achievement stand out was that it succeeded in its first attempt, which even the Americans and the Soviets could not do. Rs. 450-crore project revolved round the Red Planet to collect data on Mars’ atmosphere and mineral composition.

On February 15, ISRO kicked off 2017 with a historic record-breaking launch. In one of the most complicated missions in the history of Indian space exploration, India, with the help of six other nations, launched 104 satellites into space. These satellites were launched in a single launch.

 The 2230 kg satellite was launched by GSLV Mark-II (GSLV-F09) into its planned Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on May 5, 2017. This was the fourth consecutive success achieved by GSLV carrying indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage. The GSLV-F09’s main objective is to establish a smooth communication network amongst the South Asian nations by providing them with applications in Ku-band, which gives them a higher frequency range to communicate in.

With already 17 Indian satellites circling the planet, ISRO launched 18th communication satellite, GSAT-17, to join the fleet. The GSAT-17 has been designed for an operational lifespan of about 15 years. The spacecraft carries equipment to aid meteorology and search and rescue operations primarily over the Indian sub-continent.

ISRO launched its 100th satellite along with 30 others in a single mission on January 12, 2018 from Sriharikota Spaceport in Andhra Pradesh. Thirty-one spacecraft, including weather observation Cartosat-2 series satellite, were launched by PSLV-C40. Out of the 31, 28 satellites are foreign, while three are from India.

ISRO’s latest missions are GSLV-F11/GSAT-7A Mission, GSAT-11, PSLV-C43/ HysIS Mission and GSLV MkIII-D2/ GSAT-29 Mission.  GSLV-F10/Chandrayaan-2 Mission, planned during early 2019, undoubtedly shows, once again, India’s prowess in the field of space technology. Of late, ISRO has launched “Samwad with Students” on New Year Day i.e. January 1, 2019. We hope that under the leadership of Dr. K. Sivan, ISRO will be successful in all its upcoming missions and shall make many more proud moments for us.  

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Race against time: How scientists tracked the strongest solar storm to hit Earth

• Reported By: Sibu Tripathi

Inside the global effort to track the strongest solar storm, which triggered the most powerful auroras seen in over 500 years.

The Sun has reached peak activity in its 11-year cycle as it blasts off plasma and materials towards the inner and outer solar system without a pause. Earth was in the firing line when the strongest solar storm left the Sun in the first week of May. 

During the first full week of May, a barrage of large solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) launched clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields toward Earth, creating the strongest solar storm to reach Earth in two decades. 

As they slammed into Earth's magnetic field,  they triggered one of the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Work had already begun to track the peak activity on the Sun in 2023 when scientists predicted the solar maxima , the period of intense activity on the Sun, would be earlier than anticipated. They had accurately predicted it to happen in 2024. 

The first signs of an impending solar storm were observed on May 7 with two strong solar flares. From May 7-11, multiple strong solar flares and at least seven coronal mass ejections, the most powerful explosions from the Sun, stormed toward Earth. Eight of the flares in this period were the most powerful type, known as the X-class. 

The origin was from sunspot AR3664, a colossal feature that is a staggering 15 times wider than Earth itself. Sunspots are temporary, dark regions on the surface of the Sun with temperatures of about 3,800 to 4,500 degrees Celsius. These are regions of intense magnetic activity, which are thousands of times stronger than Earth's magnetic field.  

This gargantuan sunspot is so immense that it can be observed with the naked eye through ordinary eclipse glasses, without the need for magnification. In the days that followed, it began exploding with some of the strongest flares and coronal mass ejections. 

SCIENTISTS ON ALERT

Scientists at the Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India (CESSI) were observing the activity of the Sun ramping up. Their calculations revealed that the mega sunspot contained four times higher magnetic flux, electric current and energy compared to a normal flare-producing active region. 

"We realised immediately that we were dealing with a super active region capable of producing multiple strong flares and CMEs," Dr Dibyendu Nandi of the CESSI told IndiaToday.in. 

CESSI issued a rare severe class space weather bulletin immediately and alerted scientists at Isro and other institutions associated with the AdityaL1 mission, India's maiden solar probe , to begin tracking and ensuring the safety of assets in space. 

Meanwhile, the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center also issued predictions and global alerts. It sent notifications to operators of power grids and commercial satellites to help them mitigate potential impacts.

As the alerts began pouring in, several big missions, including Nasa's ICESat-2 — which studies polar ice sheets — entered safe mode. SpaceX began countermeasures to safeguard Starlink satellites, which were reeling under pressure from the solar storm. Isro's Master Control Facility (MCF) sprung into action to save over 50 spacecraft India has in orbit. 

HOW BAD WAS IT? 

Travelling at a staggering speed of 48 lakh kilometres per hour, the coronal mass ejections barrelled through space to slam into Earth. Starting May 10, the intense activity kicked off a stunning display of auroras in several parts of the world including India , the rarest of rare occurrences. 

Elizabeth MacDonald, NASA heliophysics citizen science lead, said that all the CMEs arrived largely at once, and the conditions were just right to create a historic storm. 

Scientists compared it to one of the biggest solar events in decades and the aurora display was the best in over five centuries. 

WHAT'S NEXT? 

Nasa has said that the giant sunspot that triggered the storm is now on the other side of the Sun and Earth is safe from any impact. However, it's not over yet. 

The sunspot is starting to come into view of Mars.

Photos: AFP, Nasa, Getty, IISER, IIA

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Tackling Extreme Inequalities: The Case for Wealth and Inheritance Taxes in India

A research paper co-authored by thomas piketty suggests a 2% tax on net wealth exceeding rs 10 crore and a 33% inheritance tax in india to address rising inequality. the proposed taxes aim to create fiscal space for social sector investments and support lower castes and middle classes..

India needs to impose a 2 per cent tax on net wealth exceeding Rs 10 crore and a 33 per cent inheritance tax to deal with the problem of rising inequality in the country, and create fiscal space for investments in the social sector, a new research paper co-authored by economist Thomas Piketty has suggested.

The paper titled 'Proposals For a Wealth Tax Package to Tackle Extreme Inequalities in India' propose a comprehensive tax package on the ultra-wealthy to tackle the massive concentration at the very top of the wealth distribution and create valuable fiscal space for crucial social sector investments.

''Raise phenomenally large tax revenues while leaving 99.96 per cent of the adults unaffected by the tax.

''In a baseline scenario, a 2 per cent annual tax on net wealth exceeding Rs 10 crore and a 33 per cent inheritance tax on estates exceeding Rs 10 crore in valuation would generate a massive 2.73 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in revenues,'' the paper suggested.

The paper said that the taxation proposal needs to be accompanied by explicit redistributive policies to support the poor, lower castes, and middle classes.

''For example, the baseline scenario would allow nearly doubling the current public spending on education, which has stagnated at 2.9 per cent of GDP over the past 15 years, well below -- less than half -- the 6 per cent target set by the government's own National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020),'' it said.

The paper noted that the taxation proposal needs to be extensively debated, with a consensus on specific details of the design emerging from a broader democratic debate on tax justice and wealth redistribution in India.

The paper has been authored by Thomas Piketty (Paris School of Economics and World Inequality Lab), Lucas Chancel (Harvard Kennedy School and World Inequality Lab), Anmol Somanchi, (Paris School of Economics and World Inequality Lab) and Nitin Kumar Bharti (New York University and World Inequality Lab) According to the paper, debates on income and wealth inequality in India have gained significant momentum in recent weeks, partly following the release of our study 'Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj', which revealed that economic disparities in India have reached historical highs.

These extreme inequalities and their close link with social injustice can no longer be ignored, it said.

Co-author Anmol Somanchi highlighted that Indian billionaires are largely an upper caste club.

''A progressive wealth tax package of the kind we propose is most likely to benefit lower castes and the middle classes at the detriment of only a tiny number of ultra-wealthy upper caste families.

''In that respect, besides addressing extreme wealth inequality, such taxes could also play a small role in weakening the rigid link between social and economic inequalities in India,'' Somanchi said.

According to him, the 2024 Lok Sabha election marks a critical juncture with heightened political and public focus on economic justice. Despite sustained attempts from certain sections at derailing this much-needed conversation, a vibrant public debate has emerged.

Somanchi said it would, however, be a shame if after coming this far, this momentum is not translated into policy.

''Progressive wealth taxation, effective redistribution, and broad-based social sector investments are urgently needed to build an equitable and prosperous India,'' he noted.

The authors in their working paper released on March 20 had said inequality in India has skyrocketed since the early 2000s, with the income and wealth share of the top 1 per cent population rising to 22.6 per cent and 40.1 per cent, respectively, in 2022-23.

''Between 2014-15 and 2022-23, the rise of top-end inequality has been particularly pronounced in terms of wealth concentration.

''By 2022-23, top 1 per cent income and wealth shares (22.6 per cent and 40.1 per cent) are at their highest historical levels and India's top 1 per cent income share is among the very highest in the world, higher than even South Africa, Brazil, and the US,'' the paper said.

US Ambassador Garcetti: India's democracy strong, resilient

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Kidney care provider Care India aims to raise Rs 35-40 crore through IPO

The ipo will comprise a fresh issuance of 45.84 lakh equity shares with a face value of rs 10 each, said founder and md of nephro care india, dr pratim sengupta.

The Kolkata-based company's upcoming medical facility is being set up at a cost of Rs 36 crore, including internal funding of around Rs 10 crore, he said.

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Tata tech ipo: how to check allotment status, listing date, gmp & more, healthcare firm nephro care india files papers to raise funds via ipo, vishwas agri seeds' rs 26 crore sme ipo to open mar 21: check issue details, tata technologies ipo listing tomorrow: here's what the experts expect, trust fintech sme ipo opens today: check gmp, anchor issue & other details, sebi mandates 10-minute video disclosure for companies launching ipos, awfis space solutions ipo subscribed 4.27 times on second day of offer, oyo withdraws ipo papers for second time, opts for private placement, co-working space operator awfis space ipo fully subscribed on day 1, beacon trusteeship ipo to open on may 28, price band at rs 57-60 per share.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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First Published: May 24 2024 | 10:29 PM IST

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‘Write an essay’: Pune teen, driving Porsche that killed 2 on bike, gets bail 15 hours after arrest

The juvenile driver was detained and produced in court, where he was granted bail with certain conditions, which included assisting traffic police for 15 days and write an essay on accidents..

A 17-year-old boy, who was arrested for driving a Porsche that hit a bike killing a man and a woman in the early hours of Sunday at Kalyani Nagar junction in Yerwada, got out on bail 15 hours after the arrest.

His lawyer Prashant Patil said a court granted bail to the minor on conditions — he has to work with traffic police in Yerwada for 15 days, write an essay on accidents, undergo treatment for his drinking habit and take counselling sessions.

The accused is the son of a Pune realtor, NDTV reported.

The accident, which took place on Saturday night, killed Aneesh Awadhiya (24) and Ashwini Koshta (24), who were engineers, both from Madhya Pradesh working in Pune.

Also Read: Two killed in Pune after speeding Porsche car hits motorcycle, minor held

According to the eyewitnesses, the car , which was being driven at a speed of 200 kmph and had no number plates, hit the bike. The boy was allegedly driving the car.

A probe was underway to confirm whether he was driving under the influence of alcohol. His blood samples were taken for medical examination, Indian Express reported.

Amitesh Kumar, Commissioner of Pune city police, said the accused in this case was a minor and booked for culpable homicide as per provisions of Section 304 the Indian Penal Code. Police have also involved other sections of the IPC and the Motor Vehicle Act against him.

“The father of the accused and the bar which served liquor to the juvenile/accused are being proceeded against under Section 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act,” the police commissioner said.

A probe revealed the accused boy had recently passed his Class 12 exams and had gone out for a party with his friends. They went to a bar and a pub in Mundhwa area, where he was suspected to have consumed liquor. After this, he headed home in his car.

Police said the boy was driving the Porsche car at a high speed. He allegedly lost control and the car rammed a motorcycle at Kalyani Nagar junction around 2.30 am. The impact was so severe that the motorcycle rider Aneesh and his friend Ashwini died on the spot. Ashwini was thrown about 20 feet in the air and landed hard, said an eyewitness. Aneesh was thrown at a parked car and suffered serious injuries. Both died on the spot.

A video of the accident went viral on social media. Sources said that local residents thrashed the driver, IE reported.

Amitesh Kumar also said that the police had urged the court to treat the accused as an adult because this was a “heinous crime” and sought his custody. Police will approach the sessions court against the bail order, he said.

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