Indian Space Industry has flourished exponentially with time. Indian Satellites like Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan which were launched by the Indian space organization Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have widely resonated with the advancement of the Space Industry in India.
What makes Indian Satellites special? ISRO launched and orbited a satellite around Mars in the first attempt. India became the fourth country to get its satellite orbiting around Mars. What’s more special? India operated this mission at a just cost of Rs 450 crore (USD 73 Million) making it the least-expensive Mars mission to date.
List of Famous Indian Satellites
This section includes the most renowned satellites that made a revolutionary impact in the advanced field of space science and technology. We will also provide you with detailed information on Indian satellites.
First Ever Indian Satellites
Aryabhata
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- Source: Wiki
This was India’s first indigenously designed and built satellite. Our scientists now possessed active technological experience in building and operating a satellite system.
Launch Date: 19 April 1975
Bhaskara Saga-I
Indian Satellite Images (Source: Gunter’s Space Page)
This was the first experimental remote-sensing satellite launched by India. Bhaskara Saga-I carried TV and microwave cameras to record outer space activities.
Launch Date: 07 June 1979
Rohini Technology Payload
Indian Satellite Images (Source: CSRE, IIT, Bombay)
This Indian Satellite was launched to observe the first experimental flight of SLV-3, the first Indian launch vehicle.
Launch Date: 10 August 1979
Most Revolutionary Indian Satellites
INSAT
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- Source: Wikipedia
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- Source: Wikipedia
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- Source: Wikipedia
It was the first operational multipurpose communication and meteorological satellite. INSAT 1A was launched on 10 April 1982 and it served for six months. Later it was redesigned and launched on 01 June 1983 and this time the satellite served for more than its design period (served for seven years).
Later INSAT-2 series was launched as a revised and enhanced version of the INSAT-1 series. The last INSAT series satellite was launched on 08 September 2016 and configured with an Imaging system and an Atmospheric sounder.
IRS
Indian Satellite Images (Source: Google)
Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) program was released to launch Earth observation satellites. IRS-1A was the first operational remote-sensing satellite launched on 17th March 1988. It was later upgraded and many more revised versions of IRS satellites were launched ResourceSat-1 (IRS-P6) was intended to supplement and replace IRS-1C and IRS-1D.
Chandrayaan
Indian Satellite Images (Source: Sky and Telescope)
Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first automated lunar probe that carried 11 scientific instruments built and designed by India and other countries including USA, UK, Germany, Norway, Poland, and Bulgaria. The first Indian uncrewed lunar mission failed after 9 months on August 2009.
Indian Satellite Images (Source: DNA India)
After a decade, India launched its second lunar exploration satellite Chandrayaan-2 weighing 3850kg launched on 22 July 2019. The satellite managed to get into the moon’s orbit successfully however, it failed while trying to operate the soft landing.
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) (Mangalyaan-1)
Indian Satellite Images (Source: Wikipedia)
This was India’s first attempt to launch its satellite into mars orbit. India successfully managed to launch its satellite on the first attempt. Indian Space Industry now owns fame of being the only country until today to successfully launch their satellite to Mars in the first attempt. India launched the Magalyaan- 1 mission on 5 November 2013. The probe started to orbit Mars on 24 September 2014. China addressed Indian Space Industry’s achievements and mentioned it as the “Pride of Asia” in 2014.
Also Read: ISRO’s LVM3 Completes Sixth Consecutive Successful Missions Including Chandrayaan-2!!