"I.S.R.O." - our DESI  NASA

            The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), was conceptualized during the early sixties and it was born in the year 1961 under the leadership of great scientist Dr. Homi J Bhabha . During the early years ISRO was within the Department Of Atomic Energy , however in later years its administration was brought under Department of Space which was within the Ministry of Science and Technology and since then it has made huge strides under several scientists Vikaram Sarabhai, U R Rao, Madhavan Nair, Nambi Narayan to name a few .

            ISRO's aim is to tap the outer space by application of "Space Science and Technology" for Socio-Economic benefit of our country. In the beginning, all the satellites for conventional purposes were indigenously developed  for Remote sensing and other applications and were launched by foreign launch vehicles. But in 1993 ISRO launched its first indigenously developed launch vehicle known as Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-PSLV and since then it has never looked back . With twenty five continuous successful launches , the PSLV  has been  the most successful programme of  ISRO , it is most reliable workhorse of ISRO which has helped ISRO master its launching capability and become self sufficient when it comes to launching light weight satellites to the outer space orbit . PSLV is capable of launching satellites weighing up to 1.7 Metric Ton , however ISRO is ambitious at enhancing its capability to launch heavier satellites(2 to 5 ton) by developing other lunch vehicles such as Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV , GSLV-MK III which would help India realize the benefits of outer space to the fullest and possibly be fulfill our own Manned Mission to Moon and beyond.

           

During the recent years ISRO has been bringing versatility to its space missions from  conventional programmes viz. Remote Sensing and communication satellites  to establish a Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System "IRNSS" our own DESI-GPS , it has other missions named TELE-Medicine and TELE-Education , GSAT-7& GSAT-14 satellite to enhance our Communication and Military capability and last but not the least MARS ORBITER MISSION-India's first interplanetary mission to MARS .

            ISRO's Telemedicine programmes aims at providing the medical service to needy and undeserved population who are at grass root level , especially those who reside in rural and hilly areas which are far flung and often inaccessible. It connects Super Specialty hospitals present in cities to the District hospital/Health centres using INSAT(Indian National Satellite System). Tele-education is project taken up by ISRO to provide quality education to all children spread across length and breadth of our country. The IRNSS is a constellation of satellites which comprises seven satellites of which two are already placed  precisely in the geo-stationary orbit. These "dedicated navigational satellites" would beam down data signals that can be intercepted by receptors of special hand held electronic devices for terrestrial , aerial and sea navigation and also enhancing our home military capability .  The IRNSS will be covering the whole territory of our country and in addition to it up to a thousand five hundred kilometers beyond the perimeter of the country with accuracy of as precise as twenty metres . navigation. Mars mission of ISRO has made India ahead of China in the race to reach Mars. It is interesting to note that ISRO's has delivered Mars Mission at a cost of meagre $73 million which is fraction of NASA's Mars mission worth $750million named MAVEN .Mars mission has both technological and scientific objectives.  ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is the cheapest Inter Planetary Mission by any Space Agency  in World "Space" History. The technological objective is aimed at developing and realizing deep space navigation, communication perform and survive maneuvers, while the scientific objectives is aimed at exploring the surface ,atmosphere , morphology, mineralogy, of the Red Planet to find out whether life on Mars ever existed by studying  data collected  Methane sensors, spectrometers  and image recorders fitted on the MAGALYAAN satellite . The MAGALYAAN is continuously being administered remotely by ground segment of ISRO located at Bangalore even as you read this article , it is scheduled to reach Martian atmosphere in September. If everything goes as planned it will make ISRO only the third space agency of world to reach the Red Planet in its maiden mission flight .

            It is often argued why do we need such space missions or why do we need ISRO at all , given the social-economic conditions of the larger section of our society which has still not clean water, nutritional food, sanitation and basic livelihood needs . Also it is often averred that all these space missions and programmes are just catch eye-balls and for showing-off .The fact must be appreciated that not spending on space science will not ensure betterment of the under-privileged but investment will . It is widely accepted and acknowledged fact that investment in (space)science fields pays huge dividends . Take for eg the PAHILIN cyclone which hit Eastern Coast. It was all because of ISRO's weather satellites KALPANA and INSAT-3D that the "land-fall" of cyclone was successfully predicted and people living in regions of coastal Andhra and Odisha  were timely evacuated thus preventing losses of lives, unlike the cyclonic disaster which took place in 1997 when more than 10,000 could not be saved. It is only due to space satellites that today ninety percent of the territory of our country is covered by Direct-to-Home audio video service which helps in disseminating knowledge and entertainment programmes. Satellites have been deployed for Remote Sensing that has enabled mapping, studying, monitoring and management of various resources like agriculture, forestry, geology, water, ocean etc. The satellites help in critically monitoring the landscape of country, data thus collected is used for framing schemes and sketching future plans for conservation of natural resources and sustainable development. The challenge posed by climate change and volatile rainfall distribution   patterns is posing serious threat to the India Agriculture and other resources essential for human survival . The Resourcesat Oceansat Cartosat provide essential data which helps in adopting better Agricultures practices, Crop management, agriculture production forecast, ground water prospects mapping, bio-diversity characterization, grassland-wasteland-mangroves mapping , studying coastal and marine areas .Today our Navy has its own exclusive navigation satellite for itself to serve rescue operation in disaster management situations and also enhance it military potentiality.

            ISRO has been commercializing its activities by helping foreign space agencies to put their satellite in space, sharing the data collected by its satellites for weather and climatic predictions. The main reason why this "commercialization" will be a "hit" is because of the frugal cost at which the ISRO has the ability to carry out the whole launch-to-deployment operation . It will bring foreign currency to India which could  be used to use fund welfare programmes, to enhance investment in research and development of science and other larger diverse needs.

            It is interesting to note that whether it be ROSCOSMOS(of Russia) or NASA(of USA) or European Space Agency  all have been very conservative in sharing "space" and rocket-science technological know-how with ISRO out of the apprehensions that it might use it to build long range missiles . ISRO is however binded to  humane , social and peaceful programmes which are in best interest of the mankind . ISRO has been following the ekla-cholo-re approach in majority of its space programmes and learning on its own by its experience , it is continuously in the hot pursuit to tap the maximum potential of the outer space to the best interest of India and its citizens. Today ISRO annual expenditure is roughly 0.003 % of the GDP of country and yet what it has achieved is known to everyone ,thus we must not look at it as a liability but as a remittance , as it has achieved a lot despite of financial and technological crunch . ISRO has come a long way since its inception but it has still far way to go . Although it may not be panacea to the myriad problems of INDIA but it certainly has a lot of potential to address the crucial needs .