119-638: The Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO / ˈ ɪ s r oʊ / ) is India's national space agency . It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister of India , with the Chairman of ISRO also serving as the chief executive of the DoS. It is primarily responsible for space-based operations, space exploration , international space cooperation and
238-511: A Soviet rocket. Efforts to develop an orbital launch vehicle began after mastering sounding rocket technology. The concept was to develop a launcher capable of providing sufficient velocity for a mass of 35 kg (77 lb) to enter low Earth orbit . It took 7 years for ISRO to develop Satellite Launch Vehicle capable of putting 40 kg (88 lb) into a 400-kilometre (250 mi) orbit. An SLV Launch Pad , ground stations, tracking networks, radars and other communications were set up for
357-435: A boundary marked in most places by a temperature inversion (i.e. a layer of relatively warm air above a colder one), and in others by a zone that is isothermal with height. Although variations do occur, the temperature usually declines with increasing altitude in the troposphere because the troposphere is mostly heated through energy transfer from the surface. Thus, the lowest part of the troposphere (i.e. Earth's surface)
476-487: A developing nation, Vikram Sarabhai as INSCOPAR chair said in 1969: To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the Moon or the planets or manned space-flight. But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to
595-505: A factor of 1/ e (0.368) every 7.64 km (25,100 ft), (this is called the scale height ) -- for altitudes out to around 70 km (43 mi; 230,000 ft). However, the atmosphere is more accurately modeled with a customized equation for each layer that takes gradients of temperature, molecular composition, solar radiation and gravity into account. At heights over 100 km, an atmosphere may no longer be well mixed. Then each chemical species has its own scale height. In summary,
714-524: A ground mock-up stage with no technology transfer, instead of five cryogenic stages along with the technology and design in the earlier agreement. These engines were used for the initial flights and were named GSLV Mk.1. ISRO was under US government sanctions between 6 May 1992 to 6 May 1994. After the United States refused to help India with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology during the Kargil war , ISRO
833-547: A joint working framework in 2021, wherein ISRO will approve all short-, medium- and long-term space research projects of common interest between the two. In return, an Advanced Space Research Group (ASRG) formed at IIST under the guidance of the EOC will have full access to ISRO facilities. This was done with the aim of "transforming" the IIST into a premier space research and engineering institute with
952-572: A launch campaign. The SLV's first launch in 1979 carried a Rohini technology payload but could not inject the satellite into its desired orbit. It was followed by a successful launch in 1980 carrying a Rohini Series-I satellite, making India the seventh country to reach Earth's orbit after the USSR, the US, France, the UK , China and Japan. RS-1 was the third Indian satellite to reach orbit as Bhaskara had been launched from
1071-511: A layer in which temperatures rise with increasing altitude. This rise in temperature is caused by the absorption of ultraviolet radiation (UV) from the Sun by the ozone layer, which restricts turbulence and mixing. Although the temperature may be −60 °C (−76 °F; 210 K) at the tropopause, the top of the stratosphere is much warmer, and may be near 0 °C. The stratospheric temperature profile creates very stable atmospheric conditions, so
1190-574: A mass of about 5.15 × 10 kg, three quarters of which is within about 11 km (6.8 mi; 36,000 ft) of the surface. The atmosphere becomes thinner with increasing altitude, with no definite boundary between the atmosphere and outer space . The Kármán line , at 100 km (62 mi) or 1.57% of Earth's radius, is often used as the border between the atmosphere and outer space. Atmospheric effects become noticeable during atmospheric reentry of spacecraft at an altitude of around 120 km (75 mi). Several layers can be distinguished in
1309-676: A means for advocating for and/or engaging in activities related to outer space , exploitation of space systems, and space exploration . The listings summarize all countries and regional authorities that have established space agencies. The listings established a comparative summary of demonstrated capabilities across the countries that have invested in the pursuit of space-based objectives. Government space agency organizations are established with objectives that include national prestige, exploitation of remote sensing information, communications, education, and economic development. These agencies tend to be civil in nature (vs military) and serve to advance
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#17328519663161428-424: A means of displaying our might. India's economic progress has made its space programme more visible and active as the country aims for greater self-reliance in space technology. In 2008, India launched as many as 11 satellites, including nine from other countries, and went on to become the first nation to launch 10 satellites on one rocket. ISRO has put into operation two major satellite systems:
1547-485: A million miles away, were found to be reflected light from ice crystals in the atmosphere. When light passes through Earth's atmosphere, photons interact with it through scattering . If the light does not interact with the atmosphere, it is called direct radiation and is what you see if you were to look directly at the Sun. Indirect radiation is light that has been scattered in the atmosphere. For example, on an overcast day when you cannot see your shadow, there
1666-470: A number of satellite series and constellations have been deployed by Indian and foreign launchers. At present, ISRO operates one of the largest constellations of active communication and earth imaging satellites for military and civilian uses. The Indian Remote Sensing satellites (IRS) are India's earth observation satellites. They are the largest collection of remote sensing satellites for civilian use in operation today, providing remote sensing services. All
1785-402: A reference is included to that program's first demonstration of the technical capacity or capability to meet the defined objective. The fifth listing identifies countries that are considering or are developing space agency organizations but have not ratified formation or operation as of yet. Note as well that the demonstrated capabilities represent the national (or regional) capacity to achieve
1904-530: A science payload from a sub-orbital or orbital mission. Several space agencies, both national and international, have demonstrated all four of those capabilities. 2013 (NADA) 2023 (NATA) This group of agencies have developed or are developing launch infrastructure including space launch sites, suborbital launch technology, orbital launch systems, and reusable hardware technologies. This group of agencies have developed advanced technological capabilities required for travel and study of other heavenly bodies within
2023-448: A successful launch in 1980 making India the sixth country in world with orbital launch capability. The development of bigger rockets began afterwards. Augmented or Advanced Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) was another small launch vehicle released in 1980s to develop technologies required to place satellites into geostationary orbit . ISRO did not have adequate funds to develop ASLV and PSLV at once. Since ASLV suffered repeated failures, it
2142-556: A technological progression in complexity and capacity that historically aligned to the developments that occurred during the 20th century space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. It is not intended to offer that this is the only path to advanced space faring status; variations and adaptations are expected and are likely to occur based on the technological capabilities that are available to today as opposed to 50 or more years ago. For each identified "Demonstrated capability"
2261-445: A variable amount of water vapor , on average around 1% at sea level, and 0.4% over the entire atmosphere. Air composition, temperature and atmospheric pressure vary with altitude . Within the atmosphere, air suitable for use in photosynthesis by terrestrial plants and respiration of terrestrial animals is found only within 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from the ground. Earth's early atmosphere consisted of accreted gases from
2380-402: A ₹400 crore (4 billion; US$ 53 million) project called Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis (NETRA). It will help the country track atmospheric entry , intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), anti-satellite weapon and other space-based attacks. All the radars and telescopes will be connected through NETRA. The system will support remote and scheduled operations. NETRA will follow
2499-544: Is 14 °C (57 °F; 287 K) or 15 °C (59 °F; 288 K), depending on the reference. The average atmospheric pressure at sea level is defined by the International Standard Atmosphere as 101325 pascals (760.00 Torr ; 14.6959 psi ; 760.00 mmHg ). This is sometimes referred to as a unit of standard atmospheres (atm) . Total atmospheric mass is 5.1480×10 kg (1.135×10 lb), about 2.5% less than would be inferred from
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#17328519663162618-437: Is a small-lift launch vehicle developed by the ISRO with payload capacity to deliver 500 kg (1,100 lb) to low Earth orbit (500 km (310 mi)) or 300 kg (660 lb) to Sun-synchronous orbit (500 km (310 mi)) for launching small satellites, with the capability to support multiple orbital drop-offs. Decade-wise summary of SSLV launches: Rohini is a series of sounding rockets developed by
2737-441: Is a cooperative altimetry technology mission, used for monitoring the oceans' surface and sea levels. AltiKa measures ocean surface topography with an accuracy of 8 mm (0.31 in), compared to 2.5 cm (0.98 in) on average using altimeters, and with a spatial resolution of 2 km (1.2 mi). During the 1960s and 1970s, India initiated its own launch vehicles owing to geopolitical and economic considerations. In
2856-408: Is about 1.2 kg/m (1.2 g/L, 0.0012 g/cm ). Density is not measured directly but is calculated from measurements of temperature, pressure and humidity using the equation of state for air (a form of the ideal gas law ). Atmospheric density decreases as the altitude increases. This variation can be approximately modeled using the barometric formula . More sophisticated models are used to predict
2975-414: Is about 28.946 or 28.96 g/mol. This is decreased when the air is humid. The relative concentration of gases remains constant until about 10,000 m (33,000 ft). In general, air pressure and density decrease with altitude in the atmosphere. However, temperature has a more complicated profile with altitude and may remain relatively constant or even increase with altitude in some regions (see
3094-442: Is because clouds (H 2 O) are strong absorbers and emitters of infrared radiation. This is also why it becomes colder at night at higher elevations. The greenhouse effect is directly related to this absorption and emission effect. Some gases in the atmosphere absorb and emit infrared radiation, but do not interact with sunlight in the visible spectrum. Common examples of these are CO 2 and H 2 O. The refractive index of air
3213-1429: Is called paleoclimatology . The three major constituents of Earth's atmosphere are nitrogen , oxygen , and argon . Water vapor accounts for roughly 0.25% of the atmosphere by mass. The concentration of water vapor (a greenhouse gas) varies significantly from around 10 ppm by mole fraction in the coldest portions of the atmosphere to as much as 5% by mole fraction in hot, humid air masses, and concentrations of other atmospheric gases are typically quoted in terms of dry air (without water vapor). The remaining gases are often referred to as trace gases, among which are other greenhouse gases , principally carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Besides argon, other noble gases , neon , helium , krypton , and xenon are also present. Filtered air includes trace amounts of many other chemical compounds . Many substances of natural origin may be present in locally and seasonally variable small amounts as aerosols in an unfiltered air sample, including dust of mineral and organic composition, pollen and spores , sea spray , and volcanic ash . Various industrial pollutants also may be present as gases or aerosols, such as chlorine (elemental or in compounds), fluorine compounds and elemental mercury vapor. Sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) may be derived from natural sources or from industrial air pollution. Mole fraction
3332-447: Is close to, but just greater than, 1. Systematic variations in the refractive index can lead to the bending of light rays over long optical paths. One example is that, under some circumstances, observers on board ships can see other vessels just over the horizon because light is refracted in the same direction as the curvature of Earth's surface. The refractive index of air depends on temperature, giving rise to refraction effects when
3451-512: Is composed of a layer of gas mixture that surrounds the Earth 's planetary surface (both lands and oceans ), known collectively as air , with variable quantities of suspended aerosols and particulates (which create weather features such as clouds and hazes ), all retained by Earth's gravity . The atmosphere serves as a protective buffer between the Earth's surface and outer space , shields
3570-409: Is its primary service area. IRNSS provides two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Restricted Service (RS), providing a position accuracy of better than 20 m (66 ft) in the primary service area. Kalpana-1 (MetSat-1) was ISRO's first dedicated meteorological satellite. Indo-French satellite SARAL on 25 February 2013. SARAL (or "Satellite with ARgos and AltiKa")
3689-477: Is mainly composed of extremely low densities of hydrogen, helium and several heavier molecules including nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide closer to the exobase. The atoms and molecules are so far apart that they can travel hundreds of kilometres without colliding with one another. Thus, the exosphere no longer behaves like a gas, and the particles constantly escape into space . These free-moving particles follow ballistic trajectories and may migrate in and out of
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3808-576: Is maintained from the US defence budget, whereas ESA's money is used for developing the European Galileo positioning system. For European contributors to ESA, the national budgets shown include also their contributions to ESA. Eight government space agencies, the United States (NASA), China (CNSA), France (CNES), Germany (DLR), India (ISRO), Italy (ASI), Japan (JAXA) and Russia (Roscosmos), have annual budgets of more than one billion US dollars . Earth%27s atmosphere The atmosphere of Earth
3927-445: Is no direct radiation reaching you, it has all been scattered. As another example, due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering , shorter (blue) wavelengths scatter more easily than longer (red) wavelengths. This is why the sky looks blue; you are seeing scattered blue light. This is also why sunsets are red. Because the Sun is close to the horizon, the Sun's rays pass through more atmosphere than normal before reaching your eye. Much of
4046-764: Is one of the six government space agencies in the world that possess full launch capabilities with the ability to deploy cryogenic engines , launch extraterrestrial missions and artificial satellites . It is also one of only four governmental space agencies in to have demonstrated unmanned soft landing capabilities. ISRO's programmes have played a significant role in the socio-economic development. It has supported both civilian and military domains in various aspects such as disaster management , telemedicine , navigation and reconnaissance. ISRO's spin-off technologies have also aided in new innovations in engineering and other allied domains. Modern space research in India can be traced to
4165-513: Is so tenuous that some scientists consider it to be part of interplanetary space rather than part of the atmosphere). It extends from the thermopause (also known as the "exobase") at the top of the thermosphere to a poorly defined boundary with the solar wind and interplanetary medium . The altitude of the exobase varies from about 500 kilometres (310 mi; 1,600,000 ft) to about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) in times of higher incoming solar radiation. The upper limit varies depending on
4284-481: Is sometimes referred to as volume fraction ; these are identical for an ideal gas only. ppm: parts per million by molecular count The concentration of CO 2 has been increasing in recent decades , as has that of CH 4 . Water vapor is about 0.25% by mass over full atmosphere Water vapor varies significantly locally The average molecular weight of dry air, which can be used to calculate densities or to convert between mole fraction and mass fraction,
4403-493: Is the heaviest rocket in operational service with ISRO. Equipped with a more powerful cryogenic engine and boosters than GSLV, it has significantly higher payload capacity and allows India to launch all its communication satellites. LVM3 is expected to carry India's first crewed mission to space and will be the testbed for SCE-200 engine which will power India's heavy-lift rockets in the future. Decade-wise summary of LVM3 launches: The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle ( SSLV )
4522-456: Is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It extends from Earth's surface to an average height of about 12 km (7.5 mi; 39,000 ft), although this altitude varies from about 9 km (5.6 mi; 30,000 ft) at the geographic poles to 17 km (11 mi; 56,000 ft) at the Equator , with some variation due to weather. The troposphere is bounded above by the tropopause ,
4641-409: Is the pursuit of all space-based applications such as research, reconnaissance, and communications. It undertakes the design and development of space rockets and satellites, and undertakes explores upper atmosphere and deep space exploration missions. ISRO has also incubated technologies in India's private space sector, boosting its growth. On the topic of the importance of a space programme to India as
4760-412: Is too low to conduct a significant amount of energy to or from the skin. This layer is completely cloudless and free of water vapor. However, non-hydrometeorological phenomena such as the aurora borealis and aurora australis are occasionally seen in the thermosphere. The International Space Station orbits in this layer, between 350 and 420 km (220 and 260 mi). It is this layer where many of
4879-475: Is typically the warmest section of the troposphere. This promotes vertical mixing (hence, the origin of its name in the Greek word τρόπος, tropos , meaning "turn"). The troposphere contains roughly 80% of the mass of Earth's atmosphere. The troposphere is denser than all its overlying layers because a larger atmospheric weight sits on top of the troposphere and causes it to be most severely compressed. Fifty percent of
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4998-518: The Aditya-L1 , aboard a PSLV on September 2. ISRO did not have an official logo until 2002. The one adopted consists of an orange arrow shooting upwards attached with two blue coloured satellite panels with the name of ISRO written in two sets of text, orange-coloured Devanagari on the left and blue-coloured English in the Prakrta typeface on the right. As the national space agency of India, ISRO's purpose
5117-643: The Combined Space Operation Center (CSpOC) to protect the space-based assets of both nations from natural and man-made threats. On 11 July 2022, ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) at Space Situational Awareness Control Centre, in Peenya was inaugurated by Jitender Singh . It will help provide information on on-orbit collision, fragmentation, atmospheric re-entry risk, space-based strategic information, hazardous asteroids, and space weather forecast. IS4OM will safeguard all
5236-546: The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was founded with Bhabha as its secretary . It provided funding for space research throughout India. During this time, tests continued on aspects of meteorology and the Earth's magnetic field , a topic that had been studied in India since the establishment of the Colaba Observatory in 1823. In 1954, the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES)
5355-577: The F-layer of the ionosphere where they encounter enough atmospheric drag to require reboosts every few months, otherwise, orbital decay will occur resulting in a return to Earth. Depending on solar activity, satellites can experience noticeable atmospheric drag at altitudes as high as 700–800 km. The division of the atmosphere into layers mostly by reference to temperature is discussed above. Temperature decreases with altitude starting at sea level, but variations in this trend begin above 11 km, where
5474-814: The Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) for communication services, and the Indian Remote Sensing Programme (IRS) satellites for management of natural resources. ISRO is managed by the DOS, which itself falls under the authority of the Space Commission and manages the following agencies and institutes: Set up as the marketing arm of ISRO, Antrix 's job is to promote products, services and technology developed by ISRO. Set up for marketing spin-off technologies, tech transfers through industry interface and scale up industry participation in
5593-650: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for meteorological and atmospheric study. These sounding rockets are capable of carrying payloads of 2 to 200 kilograms (4.4 to 440.9 lb) between altitudes of 100 to 500 kilometres (62 to 311 mi). The ISRO currently uses RH-200, RH-300,Mk-II, RH-560 Mk-II and RH-560 Mk-III rockets, which are launched from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Thumba and
5712-694: The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IASDCC) and United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOSA) guidelines. The objective of NETRA is to track objects at a distance of 36,000 kilometres (22,000 mi) in GTO. India signed a memorandum of understanding on the Space Situational Awareness Data Sharing Pact with the US in April 2022. It will enable Department of Space to collaborate with
5831-668: The Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad , and Homi Bhabha , who established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1945. Initial experiments in space sciences included the study of cosmic radiation , high-altitude and airborne testing, deep underground experimentation at the Kolar mines —one of the deepest mining sites in the world—and studies of the upper atmosphere . These studies were done at research laboratories, universities, and independent locations. In 1950,
5950-551: The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities (Roscosmos) of Russia, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and the China National Space Agency (CNSA). The space agency listings are segregated to enable identification of subsets of the complete list that have advanced to higher levels or technical or programmatic proficiency in accordance with the following: The four listings identify
6069-794: The Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota . The first proposal to send humans into space was discussed by ISRO in 2006, leading to work on the required infrastructure and spacecraft. The trials for crewed space missions began in 2007 with the 600-kilogram (1,300 lb) Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE), launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, and safely returned to earth 12 days later. List of government space agencies Government space agencies are established by governments of countries or regional groupings of countries to establish
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#17328519663166188-544: The Solar System . These involve the capacity to leave the local area around the planet Earth for lunar and/or missions to other bodies in the Solar System. As of February 2023, six (6) countries/agencies have achieved objectives necessary to be listed here. This category is formed by agencies that operate and construct satellites in extraterrestrial environments, but do not have the capability to transport those satellites to
6307-588: The infrared to around 1100 nm. There are also infrared and radio windows that transmit some infrared and radio waves at longer wavelengths. For example, the radio window runs from about one centimetre to about eleven-metre waves. Emission is the opposite of absorption, it is when an object emits radiation. Objects tend to emit amounts and wavelengths of radiation depending on their " black body " emission curves, therefore hotter objects tend to emit more radiation, with shorter wavelengths. Colder objects emit less radiation, with longer wavelengths. For example,
6426-433: The magnetosphere or the solar wind. Every second, the Earth loses about 3 kg of hydrogen, 50 g of helium, and much smaller amounts of other constituents. The exosphere is too far above Earth for meteorological phenomena to be possible. However, Earth's auroras —the aurora borealis (northern lights) and aurora australis (southern lights)—sometimes occur in the lower part of the exosphere, where they overlap into
6545-402: The mesopause that marks the top of this middle layer of the atmosphere. It is the coldest place on Earth and has an average temperature around −85 °C (−120 °F ; 190 K ). Just below the mesopause, the air is so cold that even the very scarce water vapor at this altitude can condense into polar-mesospheric noctilucent clouds of ice particles. These are the highest clouds in
6664-451: The solar nebula , but the atmosphere changed significantly over time, affected by many factors such as volcanism , impact events , weathering and the evolution of life (particularly the photoautotrophs ). Recently, human activity has also contributed to atmospheric changes , such as climate change (mainly through deforestation and fossil fuel -related global warming ), ozone depletion and acid deposition . The atmosphere has
6783-428: The temperature section). Because the general pattern of the temperature/altitude profile, or lapse rate , is constant and measurable by means of instrumented balloon soundings , the temperature behavior provides a useful metric to distinguish atmospheric layers. This atmospheric stratification divides the Earth's atmosphere into five main layers: The exosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere (though it
6902-511: The tropopause . This layer extends from the top of the troposphere at roughly 12 km (7.5 mi; 39,000 ft) above Earth's surface to the stratopause at an altitude of about 50 to 55 km (31 to 34 mi; 164,000 to 180,000 ft). The atmospheric pressure at the top of the stratosphere is roughly 1/1000 the pressure at sea level . It contains the ozone layer , which is the part of Earth's atmosphere that contains relatively high concentrations of that gas. The stratosphere defines
7021-449: The 1920s, when scientist S. K. Mitra conducted a series of experiments sounding the ionosphere through ground-based radio in Kolkata . Later, Indian scientists like C.V. Raman and Meghnad Saha contributed to scientific principles applicable in space sciences. After 1945, important developments were made in coordinated space research in India by two scientists: Vikram Sarabhai, founder of
7140-471: The 1960s–1970s, the country developed a sounding rocket , and by the 1980s, research had yielded the Satellite Launch Vehicle -3 and the more advanced Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), complete with operational supporting infrastructure. The Satellite Launch Vehicle (known as SLV-3) was the first space rocket to be developed by India. The initial launch in 1979 was a failure followed by
7259-608: The Indian Space Programme. S-TICs are at the National Institute of Technology, Agartala serving for east region, National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar for the north region, and the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli for the south region of India. Similar to NASA's CalTech -operated Jet Propulsion Laboratory , ISRO and the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) implemented
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#17328519663167378-558: The Kármán line, significant atmospheric effects such as auroras still occur. Meteors begin to glow in this region, though the larger ones may not burn up until they penetrate more deeply. The various layers of Earth's ionosphere , important to HF radio propagation, begin below 100 km and extend beyond 500 km. By comparison, the International Space Station and Space Shuttle typically orbit at 350–400 km, within
7497-543: The PSLV in 1990s was a major boost for the Indian space programme. With the exception of its first flight in 1994 and two partial failures later, the PSLV had a streak of more than 50 successful flights. The PSLV enabled India to launch all of its low Earth orbit satellites, small payloads to GTO and hundreds of foreign satellites . Along with the PSLV flights, development of a new rocket, a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)
7616-512: The Satellite-Based Communications, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management plan for civil aviation. The Indian SBAS system has been given the acronym GAGAN – GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation . A national plan for satellite navigation including implementation of a Technology Demonstration System (TDS) over Indian airspace as a proof of concept has been prepared jointly by Airports Authority of India and ISRO. The TDS
7735-665: The Secretary-level INSAT Coordination Committee. The nomenclature of the series was changed to " GSAT " from "INSAT", then further changed to "CMS" from 2020 onwards. These satellites have been used by the Indian Armed Forces as well. GSAT-9 or "SAARC Satellite" provides communication services for India's smaller neighbors. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to implement an indigenous Satellite-Based Regional GPS Augmentation System also known as Space-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) as part of
7854-459: The Sun is approximately 6,000 K (5,730 °C ; 10,340 °F ), its radiation peaks near 500 nm, and is visible to the human eye. Earth is approximately 290 K (17 °C; 62 °F), so its radiation peaks near 10,000 nm, and is much too long to be visible to humans. Because of its temperature, the atmosphere emits infrared radiation. For example, on clear nights Earth's surface cools down faster than on cloudy nights. This
7973-429: The USSR in 1979. Efforts to develop a medium-lift launch vehicle capable of putting 600-kilogram (1,300 lb) class spacecrafts into 1,000-kilometre (620 mi) Sun-synchronous orbit had already begun in 1978. They would later lead to the development of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) . The SLV-3 later had two more launches before discontinuation in 1983. ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC)
8092-420: The aptly-named thermosphere above 90 km. Because in an ideal gas of constant composition the speed of sound depends only on temperature and not on pressure or density, the speed of sound in the atmosphere with altitude takes on the form of the complicated temperature profile (see illustration to the right), and does not mirror altitudinal changes in density or pressure. The density of air at sea level
8211-421: The atmosphere also cools by emitting radiation, as discussed below. The combined absorption spectra of the gases in the atmosphere leave "windows" of low opacity , allowing the transmission of only certain bands of light. The optical window runs from around 300 nm ( ultraviolet -C) up into the range humans can see, the visible spectrum (commonly called light), at roughly 400–700 nm and continues to
8330-399: The atmosphere and may be visible to the naked eye if sunlight reflects off them about an hour or two after sunset or similarly before sunrise. They are most readily visible when the Sun is around 4 to 16 degrees below the horizon. Lightning-induced discharges known as transient luminous events (TLEs) occasionally form in the mesosphere above tropospheric thunderclouds . The mesosphere is also
8449-489: The atmosphere based on characteristics such as temperature and composition, namely the troposphere , stratosphere , mesosphere , thermosphere (formally the ionosphere ) and exosphere . The study of Earth's atmosphere and its processes is called atmospheric science (aerology), and includes multiple subfields, such as climatology and atmospheric physics . Early pioneers in the field include Léon Teisserenc de Bort and Richard Assmann . The study of historic atmosphere
8568-637: The average sea level pressure and Earth's area of 51007.2 megahectares, this portion being displaced by Earth's mountainous terrain. Atmospheric pressure is the total weight of the air above unit area at the point where the pressure is measured. Thus air pressure varies with location and weather . If the entire mass of the atmosphere had a uniform density equal to sea level density (about 1.2 kg per m ) from sea level upwards, it would terminate abruptly at an altitude of 8.50 km (27,900 ft). Air pressure actually decreases exponentially with altitude, dropping by half every 5.6 km (18,000 ft) or by
8687-615: The benefits of exploitation and/or exploration of space. Government agencies span the spectrum from ancient organizations with small budgets to mature national or regional enterprises such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States, the European Space Agency (ESA) which coordinates for more than 20 constituent countries, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA),
8806-414: The blue light has been scattered out, leaving the red light in a sunset. Different molecules absorb different wavelengths of radiation. For example, O 2 and O 3 absorb almost all radiation with wavelengths shorter than 300 nanometres . Water (H 2 O) absorbs at many wavelengths above 700 nm. When a molecule absorbs a photon, it increases the energy of the molecule. This heats the atmosphere, but
8925-559: The capability of leading future space exploration missions for ISRO. To reduce dependency on North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) for space situational awareness and protect the civilian and military assets, ISRO is setting up telescopes and radars in four locations to cover each direction. Leh , Mount Abu and Ponmudi were selected to station the telescopes and radars that will cover North, West and South of Indian territory. The last one will be in Northeast India to cover
9044-518: The date when it was terminated. Additionally, the strategic nature of many space programs result in cooperation between civil agency and military organizations to meet unique staff and technical proficiencies required to support space programs given the geographic expanse required to ensure successful operation. As of 2024, nearly 80 different government space agencies are in existence, including more than 70 national space agencies and several international agencies. Initial competencies demonstrated include
9163-415: The definition. Various authorities consider it to end at about 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) or about 190,000 kilometres (120,000 mi)—about halfway to the moon, where the influence of Earth's gravity is about the same as radiation pressure from sunlight. The geocorona visible in the far ultraviolet (caused by neutral hydrogen) extends to at least 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi). This layer
9282-496: The desired orbit/trajectory/landing spot. As far as we know as of the 10th May 2024, five space agencies have achieved the requirements to be listed here: This small group of countries/space agencies have demonstrated the highest technological capacity with systems and solutions that support human spaceflight along with the ancillary technological capabilities to support human activity in orbit and/or on extraterrestrial bodies. The missions identified (and personnel when appropriate) are
9401-590: The development of related technologies. The agency maintains a constellation of imaging , communication and remote sensing satellites . It operates the GAGAN and IRNSS satellite navigation systems. It has sent three missions to the Moon and one mission to Mars . Formerly known as the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), it was set up in 1962 by then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on
9520-504: The domain of astronomy and space technology. ISRO built India's first satellite, Aryabhata , which was launched by the Soviet space agency Interkosmos in 1975. In 1980, it launched the satellite RS-1 onboard SLV-3 , making India the seventh country to undertake orbital launches. It has subsequently developed various small-lift and medium-lift launch vehicles , enabling the agency to launch various satellites and deep space missions. It
9639-482: The entire eastern region. Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota already supports Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR). All the telescopes and radars will come under Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management (DSSAM) in Bengaluru. It will collect tracking data on inactive satellites and will also perform research on active debris removal, space debris modelling and mitigation. For early warning, ISRO began
9758-486: The first director of the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, where sounding rockets were fired, marking the start of upper atmospheric research in India. An indigenous series of sounding rockets named Rohini was subsequently developed and started undergoing launches from 1967 onwards. Waman Dattatreya Patwardhan , another IOFS officer, developed the propellant for the rockets. Under
9877-540: The first nation to successfully land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole and fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on Moon with ISRO's Chandrayaan-3, the third Moon mission. Indian moon mission, Chandrayaan-3 (translated as "mooncraft" in English), saw the successful soft landing of its Vikram lander at 6.04pm IST (1234 GMT) near the little-explored region of the Moon in a world's first for any space programme. India then successfully launched its first sun probe,
9996-412: The first successful accomplishments of each activity. The annual budgets listed are the official budgets of national space agencies available in public domain. The budgets are not normalized to the expenses of space research in different countries, i.e. higher budget does not necessarily mean more activity or better performance in space exploration. Budget could be used for different projects: e.g. GPS
10115-409: The funding and nomination of candidates to serve as astronauts, cosmonauts, or taikonauts with the countries/organizations executing human spaceflight solutions. Other demonstrated capabilities include the operation of a satellite (e.g. a communications or remote sensing system) largely developed and/or delivered by a third party, the domestic development of a satellite system, and the capacity to recover
10234-434: The gas molecules are so far apart that its temperature in the usual sense is not very meaningful. The air is so rarefied that an individual molecule (of oxygen , for example) travels an average of 1 kilometre (0.62 mi; 3300 ft) between collisions with other molecules. Although the thermosphere has a high proportion of molecules with high energy, it would not feel hot to a human in direct contact, because its density
10353-529: The government of Indira Gandhi , INCOSPAR was superseded by ISRO. Later in 1972, a space commission and Department of Space (DoS) were set up to oversee space technology development in India specifically. ISRO was brought under DoS, institutionalising space research in India and forging the Indian space programme into its existing form. India joined the Soviet Interkosmos programme for space cooperation and got its first satellite Aryabhatta in orbit through
10472-454: The identified objective. These listings do not attempt to determine which programs were uniquely or solely funded by the space agency itself. For each listing, the short name or acronym identified is the English version, with the native language version below. The date of the founding of the space agency is the date of first operations where applicable. If the space agency is no longer running, then
10591-403: The layer where most meteors burn up upon atmospheric entrance. It is too high above Earth to be accessible to jet-powered aircraft and balloons, and too low to permit orbital spacecraft. The mesosphere is mainly accessed by sounding rockets and rocket-powered aircraft . The stratosphere is the second-lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It lies above the troposphere and is separated from it by
10710-482: The mass of Earth's atmosphere is distributed approximately as follows: By comparison, the summit of Mount Everest is at 8,848 m (29,029 ft); commercial airliners typically cruise between 10 and 13 km (33,000 and 43,000 ft) where the lower density and temperature of the air improve fuel economy; weather balloons reach 30.4 km (100,000 ft) and above; and the highest X-15 flight in 1963 reached 108.0 km (354,300 ft). Even above
10829-721: The operational space assets, identify and monitor other operational spacecraft with close approaches which have overpasses over Indian subcontinent and those which conduct intentional manoeuvres with suspicious motives or seek re-entry within South Asia . On 7 March 2023, ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) conducted successful controlled re-entry of decommissioned satellite Megha-Tropiques after firing four on-board 11 Newton thrusters for 20 minutes each. A series of 20 manoeuvres were performed since August 2022 by spending 120 kg fuel. The final telemetry data confirmed disintegtration over Pacific Ocean. It
10948-504: The orbital decay of satellites. The average mass of the atmosphere is about 5 quadrillion (5 × 10 ) tonnes or 1/1,200,000 the mass of Earth. According to the American National Center for Atmospheric Research , "The total mean mass of the atmosphere is 5.1480 × 10 kg with an annual range due to water vapor of 1.2 or 1.5 × 10 kg, depending on whether surface pressure or water vapor data are used; somewhat smaller than
11067-414: The prefix "EOS" regardless of functioning in 2020. They support a wide range of applications including optical, radar and electronic reconnaissance for Indian agencies, city planning, oceanography and environmental studies. The Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) is the country's telecommunication system. It is a series of multipurpose geostationary satellites built and launched by ISRO to satisfy
11186-614: The presence of water on the Moon, and the Mars Orbiter Mission in 2013, the first Asian spacecraft to enter Martian orbit, making India the first country to succeed at this on its first attempt. Subsequently, the cryogenic upper stage for GSLV rocket became operational, making India the sixth country to have full launch capabilities. A new heavier-lift launcher LVM3 was introduced in 2014 for heavier satellites and future human space missions. On 23 August 2023, India achieved its first soft landing on an extraterrestrial body and became
11305-523: The previous estimate. The mean mass of water vapor is estimated as 1.27 × 10 kg and the dry air mass as 5.1352 ±0.0003 × 10 kg." Solar radiation (or sunlight) is the energy Earth receives from the Sun . Earth also emits radiation back into space, but at longer wavelengths that humans cannot see. Part of the incoming and emitted radiation is absorbed or reflected by the atmosphere. In May 2017, glints of light, seen as twinkling from an orbiting satellite
11424-479: The real problems of man and society, which we find in our country. And we should note that the application of sophisticated technologies and methods of analysis to our problems is not to be confused with embarking on grandiose schemes, whose primary impact is for show rather than for progress measured in hard economic and social terms. The former president of India and chairman of DRDO , A. P. J. Abdul Kalam , said: Very many individuals with myopic vision questioned
11543-465: The recommendation of scientist Vikram Sarabhai . It was renamed as ISRO in 1969 and was subsumed into the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). The establishment of ISRO institutionalised space research activities in India. In 1972, the Government set up a Space Commission and the DoS, bringing ISRO under its purview. It has since then been managed by the DoS, which also governs various other institutions in
11662-445: The relevance of space activities in a newly independent nation which was finding it difficult to feed its population. But neither Prime Minister Nehru nor Prof. Sarabhai had any ambiguity of purpose. Their vision was very clear: if Indians were to play a meaningful role in the community of nations, they must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to their real-life problems. They had no intention of using it merely as
11781-508: The satellites are placed in polar Sun-synchronous orbit (except GISATs ) and provide data in a variety of spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions to enable several programs to be undertaken relevant to national development. The initial versions are composed of the 1 ( A , B , C , D ) nomenclature while the later versions were divided into sub-classes named based on their functioning and uses including Oceansat , Cartosat , HySIS , EMISAT and ResourceSat etc. Their names were unified under
11900-422: The satellites orbiting the Earth are present. The mesosphere is the third highest layer of Earth's atmosphere, occupying the region above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere. It extends from the stratopause at an altitude of about 50 km (31 mi; 160,000 ft) to the mesopause at 80–85 km (50–53 mi; 260,000–280,000 ft) above sea level. Temperatures drop with increasing altitude to
12019-409: The space programmes. ISRO has opened Space Technology Incubation Centres (S-TIC) at premier technical universities in India which will incubate startups to build applications and products in tandem with the industry and for use in future space missions. The S-TIC will bring the industry, academia and ISRO under one umbrella to contribute towards research and development (R&D) initiatives relevant to
12138-447: The stratosphere lacks the weather-producing air turbulence that is so prevalent in the troposphere. Consequently, the stratosphere is almost completely free of clouds and other forms of weather. However, polar stratospheric or nacreous clouds are occasionally seen in the lower part of this layer of the atmosphere where the air is coldest. The stratosphere is the highest layer that can be accessed by jet-powered aircraft . The troposphere
12257-521: The suggestion of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. Initially there was no dedicated ministry for the space programme and all activities of INCOSPAR relating to space technology continued to function within the DAE. IOFS officers were drawn from the Indian Ordnance Factories to harness their knowledge of propellants and advanced light materials used to build rockets. H.G.S. Murthy , an IOFS officer, was appointed
12376-610: The surface from most meteoroids and ultraviolet solar radiation , keeps it warm and reduces diurnal temperature variation (temperature extremes between day and night ) through heat retention ( greenhouse effect ), redistributes heat and moisture among different regions via air currents , and provides the chemical and climate conditions allowing life to exist and evolve on Earth. By mole fraction (i.e., by quantity of molecules ), dry air contains 78.08% nitrogen , 20.95% oxygen , 0.93% argon , 0.04% carbon dioxide , and small amounts of other trace gases . Air also contains
12495-486: The telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology and search-and-rescue needs. Since the introduction of the first one in 1983, INSAT has become the largest domestic communication system in the Asia-Pacific Region. It is a joint venture of DOS, the Department of Telecommunications , India Meteorological Department , All India Radio and Doordarshan . The overall coordination and management of INSAT system rests with
12614-444: The temperature stabilizes over a large vertical distance through the rest of the troposphere. In the stratosphere , starting above about 20 km, the temperature increases with height, due to heating within the ozone layer caused by the capture of significant ultraviolet radiation from the Sun by the dioxygen and ozone gas in this region. Still another region of increasing temperature with altitude occurs at very high altitudes, in
12733-442: The thermopause varies considerably due to changes in solar activity. Because the thermopause lies at the lower boundary of the exosphere, it is also referred to as the exobase . The lower part of the thermosphere, from 80 to 550 kilometres (50 to 342 mi) above Earth's surface, contains the ionosphere . The temperature of the thermosphere gradually increases with height and can rise as high as 1500 °C (2700 °F), though
12852-429: The thermosphere. The exosphere contains many of the artificial satellites that orbit Earth. The thermosphere is the second-highest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It extends from the mesopause (which separates it from the mesosphere) at an altitude of about 80 km (50 mi; 260,000 ft) up to the thermopause at an altitude range of 500–1000 km (310–620 mi; 1,600,000–3,300,000 ft). The height of
12971-419: The total mass of the atmosphere is located in the lower 5.6 km (3.5 mi; 18,000 ft) of the troposphere. Nearly all atmospheric water vapor or moisture is found in the troposphere, so it is the layer where most of Earth's weather takes place. It has basically all the weather-associated cloud genus types generated by active wind circulation, although very tall cumulonimbus thunder clouds can penetrate
13090-430: The tropopause from below and rise into the lower part of the stratosphere. Most conventional aviation activity takes place in the troposphere, and it is the only layer accessible by propeller-driven aircraft . Within the five principal layers above, which are largely determined by temperature, several secondary layers may be distinguished by other properties: The average temperature of the atmosphere at Earth's surface
13209-520: Was completed during 2007 with the installation of eight Indian Reference Stations at different airports linked to the Master Control Centre located near Bengaluru . IRNSS with an operational name NavIC is an independent regional navigation satellite system developed by India. It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km (930 mi) from its borders, which
13328-531: Was dropped in favour of a new project. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV is the first medium-lift launch vehicle from India which enabled India to launch all its remote-sensing satellites into Sun-synchronous orbit . PSLV had a failure in its maiden launch in 1993. Besides two other partial failures, PSLV has become the primary workhorse for ISRO with more than 50 launches placing hundreds of Indian and foreign satellites into orbit. Decade-wise summary of PSLV launches: Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
13447-415: Was envisaged in 1990s to transfer significant payloads to geostationary orbit. ISRO initially had a great problem realising GSLV as the development of CE-7.5 in India took a decade. The US had blocked India from obtaining cryogenic technology from Russia, leading India to develop its own cryogenic engines. Decade-wise summary of GSLV Launches: Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3), previously known as GSLV Mk III,
13566-496: Was established in the foothills of the Himalayas. The Rangpur Observatory was set up in 1957 at Osmania University , Hyderabad . Space research was further encouraged by the government of India. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 and opened up possibilities for the rest of the world to conduct a space launch. The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was set up in 1962 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on
13685-436: Was going on. India tried to obtain upper-stage cryogenic engines from Russia's Glavkosmos but was blocked by the US from doing so. As a result, KVD-1 engines were imported from Russia under a new agreement which had limited success and a project to develop indigenous cryogenic technology was launched in 1994, taking two decades to reach fulfillment. A new agreement was signed with Russia for seven KVD-1 cryogenic stages and
13804-508: Was part of a compliance effort following international guidelines on space debris mitigation. Speaking at the 42nd annual meeting of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) in Bengaluru, S. Somanath stated that the long-term goal is for all Indian space actors—both governmental and non-governmental—to accomplish debris-free space missions by 2030. Since the launch of Aryabhata in 1975,
13923-420: Was prompted to develop its own satellite navigation system IRNSS (now NaVIC i.e. Navigation with Indian Constellation) which it is now expanding further. In 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee urged scientists to develop technologies to land humans on the Moon and programmes for lunar, planetary and crewed missions were started. ISRO launched Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, purportedly the first probe to verify
14042-683: Was set up in 1985 and started working on a more powerful engine, Vikas , based upon the French Viking . Two years later, facilities to test liquid-fuelled rocket engines were established and development and testing of various rocket engines thrusters began. At the same time, another solid-fuelled rocket, the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) , whose design was based upon SLV-3 was being developed, with technologies to launch satellites into geostationary orbit (GTO). The ASLV had limited success and multiple launch failures; it
14161-509: Was soon discontinued. Alongside these developments, communication satellite technologies for the Indian National Satellite System and the Indian Remote Sensing Programme for earth observation satellites were developed and launches from overseas were initiated. The number of satellites eventually grew and the systems were established as among the largest satellite constellations in the world, with multi-band communication, radar imaging, optical imaging and meteorological satellites. The arrival of
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