On this day in 1975, Aryabhata – India’s first satellite soar into the skies on a Russian launch vehicle. This successful experimental launch plays a significant role in shaping India as a space power in the later days.
With the mission duration of only 4 days, Aryabhata experienced power failure and halted its experiments after 5 days of operation.
Aryabhata
26 sided polyhedron
1.4 m diameter
conducts experiments in Aeronomics, X-Ray Astronomy & Solar Physics
Aryabhata was an experimental mission with a main objective to develop a methodology to conduct orbital operations and to develop ground-based infrastructure to track, receive and transmit satellite data.
With this historic launch, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) became the household name in India, winning the hearts of Indians with successful launches since then. The success celebration was even reflected on the two rupee Indian banknotes printed between 1976 and 1997.
Article by M R Raghul
An engineer and a creative science communicator. Found his passion for science outreaches while traveling and interacting with kids.
Tech guy and the Co-founder of Sciteum!