First Satellite of India- Aryabhat आर्यभट

 

My Dear Young and Little Indians,  

46 years back on this day (19 April 1975), India launched its first satellite Aryabhat आर्यभट into space. 

Who made the satellite Aryabhat आर्यभट ? – It was made by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

Who was the Head of the unit that made Aryabhat आर्यभट ? - He was Dr U R Rao. He later rose to become the Head of ISRO.

Who was the Head of ISRO when Aryabhat आर्यभट was conceptualized and project initiated?-  He was Dr Vikram Sarabhai. He is considered as the Father of Indian Space Programme.

What was the name of the launch vehicle ? - It was Kosmos 3M (a Russian rocket)

What was the name of the launch site? - It was Kapustin Yar in Astrakhan Oblast

(Astrakhan Oblast is a place in southern Russia. Kapustin Yar is a rocket launch and development site in Astrakhan Oblast)

Astrakhan (marked in Red)- Just above the Caspian Sea

Spot the Caspian Sea in this bigger map and you will know where the launch site is.

 

Aryabhat आर्यभट was in the shape of a 26-sided polygon (बहु-भुज). All faces (except the top and bottom) were covered with solar cells.

Aryabhat

 

It was launched on 19 April 1975. After five days, due to power failure and technical problems, signals from Aryabhat आर्यभट satellite were lost. But by this time, a lot of data had been received from the satellite.

Aryabhat आर्यभट satellite remained in space for nearly seventeen years!

On 11 February 1992 Aryabhat आर्यभट satellite re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere because of orbital decay.

What is Orbital Decay ? - Orbital Decay is a gradual decrease of the distance between two orbiting bodies. These orbiting bodies can be a planet and its satellite.

Lets understand this is two parts- Orbit and Decay.

What do we mean when we say that a satellite is orbiting around the earth ?

This means that the satellite is moving around the earth like the moon moves around the earth. Remember that a satellite sent into space is called an artificial satellite while the moon is a natural satellite.

What is the meaning of Decay ?

Decay means to weaken and ultimately get destroyed.

In this case the orbit of the satellite weakens over time and ultimately comes to an end when the satellite enters the earth's atmosphere.

This is called Orbital Decay.  

What could be the reason for this Orbital Decay?

The gravitational force of the earth keeps pulling the artificial satellite towards itself. After long periods of time may be years, there would be a situation when this satellite would come so close to the earth that it would get pulled inside the earth’s atmosphere.

19 April 1975 - India’s space program started with Aryabhat that was launched with the help of Russia.

15 February 2017- India successfully launched 104 satellites in a single flight. This launch was done from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, INDIA.

Out of these 104 satellites, 101 were international customer satellites meaning these were satellites of other countries- USA -96, The Netherlands-1,Switzerland-1, Israel-1,Kazakhstan- 1, UAE-1 

भारत - जिस देश ने दूसरों के भरोसे अपना पहला उपग्रह अंतरिक्ष में भेजा था , आज वह देश पूरे विश्व का भरोसेमंद अंतरिक्ष प्रक्षेपण राष्ट है …….

.....और अब मंगलयान , चंद्रयान और गगनयान ….

 हमें गर्व है, हम भारतीय है  

We are proud We are Indian.

 

Jai Hind !