The successful launch of India’s first indigenous satellite, Aryabhata, on this day 45 years ago, marked India’s arrival as a space power among the comity of nations

By | Martand Jha | Published: 12:02 am

April 19th marks a special occasion in India’s journey as a space power. On this special day, India’s first indigenous satellite, Aryabhata, was successfully launched from the Soviet Union by a Russian-made rocket in 1975. This year marks the 45th anniversary of that glorious achievement.

The primary aim of Aryabhata was to establish a sound base in satellite technology on which future operation satellites could be built. This objective was fully realised with its successful launch into a near earth circular orbit. The satellite was named after India’s greatest mathematician, Aryabhata, who propounded the concept of Zero in the fifth century AD. The name of this satellite was handpicked by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

When Project Aryabhata was taking concrete shape, the Indian space programme was passing through a rough phase, especially after the demise of the Father of the Indian space programme, Dr Vikram Sarabhai, in 1971. The loss of a stalwart like him meant a huge blow to young engineers and scientists who lost not only a great leader, an able administrator but also a great scientific mind and teacher.

India was looking for a ‘leapfrogging moment’ after his death in outer space, which could stamp both India’s intent and capability to be counted as a space power among the comity of nations.

Nascent Steps

Before Aryabhata, the Indian space programme was largely a rocket-based programme with sounding rockets being launched regularly from Thumba in Thiruvananthapuram. It was in the early 70s that the Indian satellite programme started to take nascent steps.

The pioneers of the Indian space programme were of the firm belief that for India to be recognised by other space powers like the United States and the Soviet Union, the country had to not only make an indigenous satellite but also launch it successfully in the first attempt. The reason being that for a third world country like India, with a large amount of poor population, a failed mission just isn’t affordable. Secondly, the Indian scientists had to do so with extremely limited resources. For this mission, Rs 3 crore was sanctioned by the Government of India, with Rs 1 crore in foreign exchange as the total cost for the project.

Project Aryabhata also became a symbol of Indo-Soviet cooperation in Outer Space affairs. Dr UR Rao, former Isro chairman, in his book, ‘India’s Rise as a Space Power’, recalls this episode and states, “Once the money was sanctioned for this project, regular review meetings started to take place between the Indian and Soviet scientists at regular intervals to ensure the progress of this project. A structural model of the satellite simulating the physical characteristics of all the systems and subsystems were tested and qualified along with the dummy last stage of the rocket in USSR”. The preparations for designing Aryabhata were in full swing since 1974 itself.

Personal Inspiration

Indira Gandhi was personally interested in this mission. She, therefore, visited the Indian Scientific Satellite Project (ISSP) site in Peenya Industrial Estates, Bengaluru, (established in 1972), where the project was being conceived. Her personal interest in the project boosted the confidence of scientists, who were putting their hearts and souls into this project.

But as happens in any great project or a mission, the journey of Aryabhata also faced hiccups. Even six months before the launch, Isro did not have a facility for dynamically balancing the satellite, which is an important prerequisite for a space-based satellite. However, looking at the gravity of the situation, the Karnataka government came to the rescue and provided 20,000 square feet to Isro to establish the required facility.

As per Isro, “The spacecraft was quasispherical in shape containing 26 sides and carried three experiments for the measurement of cosmic X-rays, solar neutrons and Gamma rays together with a sensor for the study of the Ionosphere. The spacecraft weighed 360 kg, used solar panels on 24 sides to provide 46 watts of power, used a passive thermal control system, carried Ni-Cd batteries and a spin up gas jet system to provide a spin rate of not more than 90 rpm. There was a set of altitude sensors comprising a tri-axial magnetometer, a digital elevation solar sensor and four azimuth solar sensors. The data system included a tape recorder at 256 bits per second with playback at 10 times that rate. The PCM-FM-PM telemetry system operated at 137.44MHz”.

Red-Letter Day

After months of hard work, when the red-letter day of April 19 arrived, the scene of action shifted from Bengaluru to Kapustin Yar cosmodrome in Russia. Then Isro chairman Prof Satish Dhawan, along with Dr UR Rao who was the project director of Aryabhata, and 30 other Indian scientists were present at the launch pad to witness history in the making.

India truly entered its space age on that day when the satellite Aryabhata was launched successfully. This success literally changed the entire course of the Indian space programme as it gave India the belief that it too could both realise and materialise its space dreams.

Aryabhata became the benchmark of success on which Isro got the confidence to conceive ‘Bhaskara’, an experimental remote sensing satellite. The spirit and culture of Aryabhata project continues to symbolise an ideal environment for fostering scientific and technological excellence.

A Special Journey

Today, when the Indian space programme is scaling great heights, the story of Aryabhata has a lot to offer to young scientists. Last year, when Chandrayaan 2 failed to make a successful landing on the lunar surface, it became a moment of grief for every Indian. What everyone can learn from Aryabhata is that success and failures are a part and parcel of life and necessary for the growth of a robust institution like the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

Momentary success and momentary failures don’t determine the overall calibre of an institution and its people. For instance, had Aryabhata not been successful in its first attempt, the Indian scientists would have tried again and again until the mission was successful, much like how Isro learnt from the failure of SLV 1 (Satellite Launch Vehicle) in its first attempt.

Moreover, the feat of Aryabhata should not be seen as an isolated episode of success in India’s space history because a space programme becomes successful in its continuity of small and large successes. This is precisely how Isro has learnt to function over 50 years of its existence. Therefore, it came as no surprise when immediately after the failure of mission Chandrayaan 2, Isro announced that it would make another attempt in 2021 with mission Chandrayaan 3.

Next Quantum Leap

Last year on August 15, Isro celebrated its silver jubilee as an institution. The Indian space programme is a result of sheer dedication and the dream of visionaries, who were at the peak of the professions. Nehru, Sarabhai and Bhabha were the three stalwarts behind the genesis of the Indian space programme.

Isro learns very fast from its failures and rectifies its mistakes. This is on very similar lines of Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha who said while he was inaugurating a six-day seminar on ‘Space Physics’, a first-of-its-kind to be held in India. He urged that a beginning must be made in the field of space research in order to not fall behind other countries in practical technology. He said, “If we do not do it now, we will have to depend later on buying the know-how from other countries at much greater cost”.

Today, Indian space ambitions require another quantum of a leap to start a new chapter of India’s space journey. A successful Chandrayaan 3 mission will boost the confidence of Isro for its biggest ever project ie, Mission Gaganyaan, which is India’s first manned mission to space, where India plans to send astronauts to outer space and bring them back home safely.

The successful launch of Aryabhata represents the golden moment in India’s space history. As a nation, we only need to keep looking back to this triumph to draw inspiration to scale higher peaks.

Moment of Glory

• The satellite was named after India’s greatest mathematician, Aryabhata, who propounded the concept of Zero

• The name of the satellite was handpicked by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

• Rs 3 crore was sanctioned by Government of India, with Rs 1 crore in foreign exchange, as the total cost for this project

• Project Aryabhata was conceived at the Indian Scientific Satellite Project site in Peenya Industrial Estates, Bengaluru, (established in 1972)

• Aryabhata was launched from Kapustin Yar cosmodrome in Russia on April 19, 1975

• This success literally changed the entire course of the Indian space programme as it gave India the much-needed belief in its abilities

(The author is a Senior Research Fellow at School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

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