India’s contribution to the crowd up there

Judging by the way the space guys have been spraying satellites in the skies, it may not too distant a date when these plastic-metal birds are there in enough numbers to keep the sunlight out—or so it seems.

There are about 3,000 satellites out there and India’s contribution to this has not been humble.

Here are some statistics about India’s satellites:

Starting from ‘Aryabhata’ in 1975 and counting the four today, India has dropped in space 92 satellites, including those launched for India by other countries.

27 of them are satellites of by other countries, the other 65 are Indian-owned, including one purchased ‘in orbit’ in 1998.

23 of the 65 were launched by Russian, European and American space agencies, with their rockets. But only 7 of the 23 were launched by others since 2000.

25 of the 65 Indian-owned are still in service.

The heaviest of India’s satellites is the INSAT-4A, launched by Ariane of Europe in 2005. The 3,080 kg satellite is still in service.

The heaviest satellite launched from Indian soil is the 2,140 kg INSAT-4CR, which was put in space by the GSLV-FO4 rocket, in September 2007. The rocket featured a Russian-made cryogenic engine. The satellite is in service.

The heaviest lift-off from India was that of the 2,310 kg GSAT-5P, but it did not reach orbit. It was launched by the completely indigenous GSLV-FO6 in December 2010.

The heaviest to be launched by a completely indigenous vehicle is the Cartosat-1, 1,560 kg, put in orbit by PSLV-C6 in May 2005. The satellite is still in service.

Italy’s Agile, which weighs 350 kg, is the heaviest foreign satellite to be launched by India. It was a co-passenger in PSLV-C10 of April 2007.

The Indian satellite that has gone farthest in terms of distance, is of course the Chandrayaan-1, the 1,380 kg moon-spy satellite, which was launched by PSLV-C11 in October 2008.

ISRO has a busy schedule ahead and these records will no doubt be broken. When the GSLV system is perfected, India will launch bigger and heavier satellites.

Let the GSLV Mark-III come—it is expected to get into service, if all goes right, by the end of 2013 or thereabouts. The powerful rocket will not launch up even heavier rockets—it will launch India into the big-league of space specialist countries.

An estimate, quoted in a speech by Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin puts the global space industry at $ 200 billion. The satellite launch business is estimated to be 15 per cent of the overall space business.

This in mind, ISRO is looking to building another Sriharikota-like satellite launch station, which will cost, according to ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan, “not less than Rs 1,000 crore”.

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