ISRO: History, Launch Vehicles, Chandrayaan-3, Aditya-L1 & Gaganyaan (Complete Guide)

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE INDIAN SPACE PROGRAMME - Illustrative Reference

Historical Milestones of Indian Space Program
├── 1. INCOSPAR Formed (1962): Formed under DAE by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai
├── 2. First Sounding Rocket (21st Nov 1963): Nike-Apache launched from TERLS Thumba
├── 3. ISRO Established (15th August 1969): Replaced INCOSPAR under Dept of Atomic Energy
├── 4. Space Commission & DOS Created (1972): ISRO brought under Department of Space
└── 5. Aryabhata Satellite (19th April 1975): India's 1st satellite launched via Soviet rocket

• INCOSPAR: In 1962, the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was established under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) through the visionary leadership of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and Homi Bhabha.
• First Rocket Launch (21st Nov 1963): India launched its first sounding rocket, a US-supplied Nike-Apache, from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (located close to Earth's magnetic equator).

• ISRO Founded: On 15th August 1969, ISRO was formally established, superseding INCOSPAR. In 1972, the Government of India set up the Space Commission and Department of Space (DOS), bringing ISRO under DOS.
• Aryabhata Satellite (1975): India's first indigenously designed satellite, named after the 5th-century Indian mathematician Aryabhata, was launched on 19th April 1975 from Kapustin Yar using a Soviet Kosmos-3M launch vehicle.

Evolution of ISRO Rocket Family
├── 1. SLV-3 (1980): 4-Stage Solid | Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam | Launched Rohini RS-1 (40 kg)
├── 2. ASLV (1987): 5-Stage Solid | Augmented payload capability for Low Earth Orbit
├── 3. PSLV ("Workhorse"): 4-Stage (Solid-Liquid-Solid-Liquid) | Vikas Engine | 1,750 kg to SSO
├── 4. GSLV Mk II: 3-Stage with Indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS - CE-7.5 Engine)
└── 5. LVM3 / GSLV Mk III ("Bahubali"): 3-Stage Heavy Lift | CE-20 Cryogenic Engine | 4,000 kg to GTO

Landmark ISRO Interplanetary & Science Missions
├── 1. Chandrayaan-1 (2008): First Moon mission | Discovered Lunar Water Molecules (H2O)
├── 2. Mangalyaan / MOM (2013-14): First Mars mission | 1st nation to succeed on 1st attempt ($74M)
├── 3. Chandrayaan-2 (2019): Orbiter + Vikram Lander (Hard landed at Tiranga Point)
├── 4. Chandrayaan-3 (2023): Historic South Pole Soft Landing (Shiv Shakti Point - 23rd August)
├── 5. Aditya-L1 (2023-24): India's 1st Solar Observatory at Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1
└── 6. XPoSat (2024): World's 2nd Space X-ray Polarimetry Mission (Black hole / Pulsar study)

• Launched: 22nd October 2008 aboard PSLV-C11.
• Historic Discovery: The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) released by Chandrayaan-1, alongside NASA's M3 (Moon Mineralogy Mapper) payload, made the epochal discovery of water molecules ($H_2O$ and $OH$) ice deposits on the lunar surface.

• Launched: 5th November 2013 aboard PSLV-C25.
• Mars Orbit Insertion: Successfully entered Martian orbit on 24th September 2014.
• World Records:

• Launched: 14th July 2023 aboard LVM3-M4 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota.
• Soft Landing Date & Time: 23rd August 2023 at 18:04 IST.
• Space History Created: India became the first nation in the world to soft-land near the Lunar South Pole, and the 4th nation to achieve a soft moon landing (after USA, USSR, and China).

Chandrayaan-3 Space Architecture
├── Propulsion Module: Carried Lander/Rover to 100 km lunar orbit (Carries SHAPE payload)
├── Vikram Lander: 4 Throttleable Engines, Hazard Avoidance Camera, ChaSTE & ILSA Payloads
└── Pragyan Rover: 6-Wheeled Rover (26 kg), APXS & LIBS Spectrometers, Laser retroreflector

• Launched: September 2015 aboard PSLV-C30.
• Capability: Enables simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of celestial sources in ultraviolet, optical, low and high-energy X-ray bands.
• Achievements: Discovered extreme ultraviolet light from a galaxy located 9.3 billion light-years away and studied black hole binary systems.

• Technology: Equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) operating in C-band and X-band.
• Key Advantage: All-weather, day-and-night imaging capability unaffected by cloud cover, fog, or darkness. Used for agriculture crop monitoring, flood mapping, and strategic defense border surveillance.

• Launched: 2nd September 2023 aboard PSLV-C57.
• Halo Orbit Insertion: Placed successfully into a Halo Orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrangian Point 1 (L1) on 6th January 2024 (located 1.5 million km from Earth).
• Why L1 Point? A satellite placed in the halo orbit around L1 has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses.
• Seven Payloads: Includes VELC (Visible Emission Line Coronagraph), SUIT (Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope), and ASPEX to study Solar Flares, Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and space weather.

• Constellation: Independent regional satellite navigation system operating 7 Satellites (3 in Geostationary Orbit GEO and 4 in Geosynchronous Orbit GSO).
• Coverage: Provides positioning service over India and an extended region extending up to 1,500 km beyond Indian borders.
• Accuracy: Position accuracy better than 5 meters for primary user region. Broadcasts in L5, S-band, and new L1 civilian frequencies.

• NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar): Joint dual-frequency (L-band developed by NASA JPL and S-band developed by ISRO) radar satellite mapping Earth's global land deformation, glacier dynamics, and forest biomass change every 12 days.
• Chandrayaan-4 (Lunar Sample Return Mission): Multi-module lunar mission designed to soft-land near the Lunar South Pole, extract surface soil samples, and launch a sample return capsule back to Earth.
• Kulasekarapattinam Second Spaceport: ISRO's new dedicated launch complex being developed in Tamil Nadu specifically for Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) launches over the Indian Ocean.

Future ISRO Roadmap
├── 1. Gaganyaan Mission: India's 1st Human Spaceflight (3 Astronauts to 400 km LEO for 3 days)
├── 2. Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS): Indian Space Station (1st Module 2028 | Full 2035)
├── 3. Indian Human Moon Landing: Target of landing Indian Astronaut on Moon by 2040
├── 4. NISAR: Joint NASA-ISRO Dual-Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (L & S Band)
├── 5. Chandrayaan-4: Lunar Sample Return Mission (Multi-launch South Pole sample return)
└── 6. Shukrayaan-1: Venus Orbiter Mission to study Venus atmosphere & surface

• Crew Module & Life Support: Designed to carry 3 Indian Astronauts (Gaganauts: Group Captain Prashanth Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Subhanshu Shukla).
• Vyommitra: Half-humanoid female robot developed by ISRO for uncrewed trial flights to monitor microgravity environments and life support parameters.

• RLV-LEX (Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Experiment): Successfully demonstrated autonomous precise landing of a winged spaceplane body at Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka, paving the way for low-cost reusable rockets.
• GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation): Jointly developed by ISRO and Airports Authority of India (AAI) to provide high-precision satellite-based navigation for civil aviation aircraft across Indian airspace, enabling APV-1.0 instrument landing approaches.

• Role: Autonomous single-window nodal agency under DOS acting as a promoter and regulator for private space firms (e.g. Skyroot Aerospace - launched Vikram-S; Agnikul Cosmos - launched Agnibaan 3D printed rocket).

• Role: Commercial arm of ISRO under DOS (established 2019). Owns and operates ISRO launch vehicles for commercial satellite launches (e.g. launching 72 OneWeb satellites aboard LVM3).

• Skyroot Aerospace: Launched India's first privately developed rocket Vikram-S in November 2022 under Mission Prarambh.
• Agnikul Cosmos: Successfully launched Agnibaan SOrTeD, featuring the world's first single-piece 3D-printed semi-cryogenic engine (Agnite), operating from India's first private launchpad at Sriharikota.

• Full Form: Navigation with Indian Constellation (originally IRNSS - Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System).
• Constellation: 7 Satellites in orbit (3 in Geostationary Orbit - GEO and 4 in Geosynchronous Orbit - GSO).
• Coverage: Entire Indian landmass and an area extending up to 1,500 km beyond India's borders.
• Services: Standard Positioning Service (SPS) for civilian users; Restricted Service (RS) for military and tactical applications.
• Next-Gen NVS Series: NVS-01 launched in May 2023 introduced indigenous Rubidium atomic clock and L5 + S-band signals.

• NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar): Dual-frequency (L-band and S-band) SAR satellite jointly developed by NASA and ISRO for global land surface hazard and ecosystem monitoring.
• Shukrayaan-1 (Venus Orbiter Mission): Proposed mission to study Venusian atmosphere, surface topography, and solar wind interactions.
• LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration Mission): Joint lunar mission by ISRO and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to land a heavy rover near the Moon's South Pole.
• Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS): India's planned indigenous space station; 1st module targeted for launch by 2028, full station operational by 2035.

• Bhuvan Geoportal: ISRO's 3D satellite imagery and GIS mapping portal providing high-resolution imagery for land use, urban planning, and natural resource management.
• Bhuvan-Panchayat: Customized GIS tool enabling Gram Panchayats to plan rural assets, roads, and watershed management under MGNREGA.
• Disaster Management Support (DMS) Programme: Provides real-time satellite imaging during cyclones, floods, landslides, and forest fires to NDMA and state emergency operation centers.
• EDUSAT (GSAT-3): India's first dedicated satellite launched exclusively for educational sector to deliver distance classroom education across rural India.
• VRC (Village Resource Centres): Interactive satellite-based tele-education, tele-medicine, and agricultural advisory centers established in remote rural villages.

• OneWeb Constellation Launches (2022-2023): LVM3 rocket successfully deployed 72 OneWeb broadband satellites into Low Earth Orbit across 2 commercial missions (LVM3-M2 and LVM3-M3), establishing LVM3 as a proven heavy-lift commercial vehicle in the global market.
• TeLEOS-2 & DS-SAR Missions (2023): PSLV-C55 and PSLV-C56 launched Singaporean synthetic aperture radar and earth observation satellites under commercial agreements with NSIL.
• GSAT-20 (GSAT-N2) SpaceX Agreement: ISRO contracted SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to launch India's heavy 4,700 kg GSAT-20 high-throughput Ka-band communication satellite for in-flight connectivity.

• India's 2nd spaceport under construction at Kulasekarapattinam, Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu.
• Specifically dedicated to Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) launches, saving fuel by providing a direct southward launch trajectory without needing to maneuver around Sri Lanka.

• Vyommitra: Female spacefaring humanoid robot developed by ISRO for uncrewed Gaganyaan test missions.
• Designed to monitor module parameters, operate switch panels, issue alerts, and simulate human physiological functions during spaceflight before human astronauts are launched.

• Indigenously developed CE-20 cryogenic engine tested and qualified for human-rating LVM3 rocket stages under the Gaganyaan programme, delivering 20 tonnes of thrust.