Aryabhata, the first Indian space satellite, was launched for India on April 19, 1975.
Later, Bhaskara-I, an Earth observation satellite, launched for India on June 7, 1979.
India launched its own satellite for the first time on July 18, 1980. It was the Rohini-1 satellite carried aloft on a Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) rocket from the Sriharikota Island launch site.
Since then, India has invested a great deal of its space development work in complex applications satellites. The nation's two main interests are satellites for remote sensing and communications -- used for weather pictures, disaster warnings and feeds to 552 television and 164 radio stations on the ground.
Space organizations. A Space Science & Technology Centre (SSTC) was established in 1965 in Thumba. A Satellite Telecommunication Earth Station was erected in 1967 at Ahmedabad. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was created August 15, 1969, in the Department of Atomic Energy. Since then, ISRO has managed India's space research and the uses of space for peaceful puroposes.
The government established the Space Commission and the Department of Space (DOS) in June 1972. DOS conducts the nation's space activities for ISRO at four space centres across the country. DOS reports directly to the Prime Minister. ISRO was placed under DOS on June 1, 1972, and made a government organisation on April 1, 1975.
The first experimental launch from the Sriharikota Island launch site of a Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) rocket on August 10, 1979, did not place its Rohini Technology Payload satellite in orbit. However, the next year India successfully launched the Rohini-1 satellite on July 18, 1980, on a Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) rocket.
TV satellite. By the end of 1985, the Rohini-3 communications satellite launched in August 1983 had extended nationwide television coverage from 20 percent to 70 percent of the population. Today it is about 90 percent.
In 1992, the Indian-built INSAT-2 geostationary communications and meteorological satellite superseded an American-built INSAT-1.
Geosynchronous satellites. One of India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rockets was launched on April 18, 2001, from the Sriharikota Island launch site in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. It placed a 1.5-ton experimental satellite called GSAT-1 into geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above Earth.
GSAT-1 is a communications satellite with digital audio, data and video broadcasting using two S-band, one high power C-band and two indigenous C-band transponders.
A GSLV can boost a large communications or weather satellite to a stationary orbit. India also plans to use GSLV rockets to send probes away from Earth to explore the planets. Missions to Mercury, Venus and Mars are under consideration.
Commercial launches. India hopes to tap into the commercial launcher market. The first commercial GSLV launch is set for 2002-03, to be followed by two launches per year through 2006-07.
PSLV launches TES.
India's Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) was launched on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C3) from Sriharikota on October 22, 2001. ISRO image of India's Technology Experiment Satellite
INSAT lofted by Ariane. The Indian National Satellite, INSAT-3C, designed and built by ISRO was airlifted from Bangalore, India, to Cayenne Airport near Kourou, French Guyana in December 2001 in preparation for a launch on a European Space Agency Ariane-4 rocket in January 2002.
INSAT-3C had been ready for launch in August 2001 before an Ariane-5 rocket failed. The failure delyaed all Ariane flights and moved INSAT-3C to an Ariane-4 rocket.
INSAT-3C adds to the INSAT fleet in orbit 24 C-band transponders, six extended C-band transponders, two S-band broadcast satellite service transponders and mobile satellite service transponders. INSAT-3C will be positioned at 74-degree east longitude.