India

The History of India in Space:
Space technology has allowed the nation of India to move into the world of high technology, a place previously occupied only by more-developed nations. India has been up there since July 18, 1980, when it became the eighth to demonstrate it could send a satellite to orbit above Earth. India launched the satellite Rohini 1 on an Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) rocket from the Sriharikota Island launch site. Indian cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma spent eight days in 1984 aboard the USSR's space station Salyut 7.

In recent years, India has concentrated much of its space development work on complex applications satellites and more powerful rockets. The nation's two main interests are satellites for remote sensing and communications -- used for weather pictures, disaster warnings and feeds to 552 television and 164 radio stations on the ground.

PSLV: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
INSAT: Indian National Satellite System.

The GSLV or Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle was developed by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to launch INSAT-type satellites into geostationary orbit to make India less dependent on foreign rockets. The GSLV improved on the performance of the PSLV with the addition of liquid strap-on boosters and a cryogenic upper stage. It is a three-stage launch vehicle with the first stage being solid-propelled, the second liquid-propelled and the final stage being cryogenically propelled. The solid first and liquid second stages are carried over from the PSLV. The GSLV used cryogenic upper stage supplied by Russia, having ordered 7 upper stages. India originally tried to buy the technology to build a cryogenic upper stage from Russia, but under pressure from the United States, that technology was not provided. Therefore, ISRO has been working on developing a cryogenic upper stage for the past eleven years. The first two flights of the GSLV were developmental. The first, partially successful, flight was on 18 April 2001 which launched GSAT-1. The second, which was fully successful, was on 8 May 2003 launching the experimental communication satellite GSAT-2. The first operational flight (GSLV-F01) was the launch of the EDUSAT communications satellite on 20 September 2004. The fourth flight (GSLV-F02) on 10 July 2006 was unsuccessful in launching the 2168 kg (4,780 lb) communications satellite INSAT-4C as both rocket and satellite had to be destroyed over the Bay of Bengal after the rocket's trajectory veered outside of permitted limits. A defective propellant regulator of the fourth strap-on motor caused the INSAT-4C-carrying vehicle to crash a minute after lift-off from Sriharikota on the Andhra Pradesh coast on 10th July 2006 . The next launch of GSLV (GSLV-F03) is expected to be conducted during July 2007. This would carry INSAT-4CR, which is the replacement satellite for INSAT-4C. The four flights of GSLV so far have used Russian cryogenic engine for the last stage. The next flight is expected to use the cryogenic engine developed by ISRO. INSAT: INSAT or the Indian National Satellite System is a series of multipurpose Geo-Stationary satellites launched by ISRO to satisfy the telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology, and "search and rescue" needs of India. Commissioned in 1983, INSAT is the largest domestic communication system in the Asia-Pacific Region. Active satellites of this series include INSAT-2E, INSAT-3A, INSAT-3B, INSAT-3C, INSAT-3E, KALPANA-1 (METSAT), GSAT-2, EDUSAT (GSAT-3) and INSAT-4A. INSAT satellites provide transponders (about 150) in various bands (C, S, Extended C and Ku) to serve the television and communication needs of India.

INSAT milestones: ( List of Indian Satellites )
* INSAT 1 Series
           o 1A April 10, 1982
           o 1B August 30, 1983
           o 1C July 21, 1988
           o 1D June 12, 1990
* INSAT 2 Series
          o 2A July 10, 1992
          o 2B July 23, 1993
          o 2C December 7, 1995
          o 2D June 4, 1997
                       + 2DT ARABSAT-1C is acquired and renamed as INSAT-2DT
         o 2E April 3, 1999
* INSAT 3 Series
         o 3A April 10, 2003
         o 3B March 22, 2000
         o 3C January 24, 2002
         o 3E September 28, 2003
* INSAT 4 Series
         o 4A December 22, 2005 (Image & details of the satellite)
         o 4B Launched, along with the British military Skynet 5A on Ariane 5, at 22:03 GMT, 11 March 2007.
         o 4C (destroyed during liftoff)
         o 4D (Spare)
         o 4E
         o 4F
         o 4G/GSAT-8