Space Odyssey

Mar 29, 2025: ISRO has announced significant progress in the design and development of a semi-cryogenic engine. This engine, which uses Liquid Oxygen (LOX) and Kerosene as propellants, delivers a high thrust of 2,000 kN. It is designed to enhance the payload capacity of India's Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) and strengthen the country's space launch capabilities.

Jan 29, 2025: India’s space agency, ISRO, celebrated a historic milestone on Wednesday morning with the launch of its 100th mission. A Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) lifted off from the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh at 6:23 a.m., carrying the NVS-02 navigation satellite into orbit.

The Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) system offers a wide range of applications beyond terrestrial, aerial, and maritime navigation. These include:

• Disaster Management: Providing timely and accurate location data to aid in disaster response and management.

• Vehicle Tracking and Fleet Management: Enabling real-time monitoring and management of vehicle fleets for logistics and transportation sectors.

• Precision Agriculture: Assisting farmers with accurate positioning for activities like soil sampling, field mapping, and crop scouting, leading to improved yield and resource management.

• Search and Rescue Operations: Facilitating the identification and location of individuals in distress, enhancing the efficiency of rescue missions.

Jan 16, 2025: ISRO successfully docks two satellites in space, making India the fourth country to achieve this feat after the US, Russia, and China. This milestone sets the stage for upcoming missions like Chandrayaan-4 and Gaganyaan.

Jan 06, 2025: Leaves have emerged! VSSC’s CROPS (Compact Research Module for Orbital Plant Studies) aboard PSLV-C60 POEM-4 achieves a milestone as cowpea sprouts unveil their first leaves in space.

Dec 31, 2024: The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched its year-end mission, "Space Docking Experiment" (SpaDeX), on Monday at 10 pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR in Sriharikota. This mission will make India the fourth country to demonstrate the complex manoeuvre of docking two spacecraft in orbit. What is Docking? The process of connecting two spacecraft without external assistance.

ISRO will next attempt to dock the two satellites, orbiting at speeds of 28,800 kilometres per hour, by carefully maneuvering them to reduce their relative velocities to a mere 0.036 kilometre per hour

Dec 06 2024: ISRO and European Space Agency signed an agreement for ESA to provide ground station support for ISRO's Gaganyaan human spaceflight missions. ESA's European Space Tracking network (Estrack) will assist in tracking, monitoring, and commanding the Gaganyaan crew module throughout its missions.

Dec 02, 2024: Distinguished visitors from ISRO were welcomed to ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. This visit aimed to strengthen collaboration between the two space agencies.

May 31, 2024: A delegation from the French Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence (IHEDN), led by Major General (Ms.) Leger Ep Plessix, visited ISRO in Bengaluru. Discussions focused on the historical collaboration between India and France, space sector reforms, and future cooperation opportunities.

May 23, 2024: The Chairman of ISRO led the Indian delegation at the BRICS Heads of Space Agencies Meeting held in Moscow, Russia. The meeting focused on enhancing cooperation among BRICS nations in space exploration and technology.

Mar 29, 2024: Representatives from Bavarian academic institutes visited ISRO to explore opportunities for academic and research partnerships in space science and technology.

Mar 15, 2024: The Ambassador of Norway to India, Her Excellency Ms May-Elin Stener visited ISRO Headquarters.

Mar 8, 2024: A Danish Parliamentary Committee for Higher Education and Science visited ISRO, discussing potential collaborations in space research and education.

Feb 20, 2024: Prof. Dr. Martin Kocher, Minister of Labour and Economy, Austria visited ISRO Headquarters.

Jan 6, 2024: ISRO’s Aditya-L1 successfully placed in a halo orbit around L1 point. The Aditya-L1 spacecraft entered into its final destination orbit, some 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth. Earth's average distance to the Sun is about 150 million kilometres from the Sun.

Sep 02, 2023: Continuing its space odyssey, ISRO embarked on a mission to explore our solar system with Aditya-L1 spacecraft. Aditya-L1 is a spacecraft to study the Sun designed and developed by the ISRO and various other Indian research institutes. The solar observatory will monitor the sun with seven specially designed distinct scientific payloads.

Meanwhile, the Pragyan rover from the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was "set into Sleep mode" but with batteries charged and receiver on.

Destination Moon: Chandrayaan-3, India's third lunar Odyssey

Aug 23, 2023: 6:03 p.m. India Standard Time, Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed near the moon's south pole. In June 2023, India also signed on to the NASA-led Artemis Accords aiming for peaceful human and robotic exploration of the moon.

Aug 18, 2023: The lander module of the Chandrayaan-3 has successfully separated from the propulsion module. All eyes are on the soft-landing of India's lunar mission on the surface of the Moon.

Chandrayaan-3 consists of a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan similar to Chandrayaan-2, but does not have an orbiter. Its propulsion module behaves like a communication relay satellite. The propulsion module carries the lander and rover configuration until the spacecraft is in a 100-kilometre lunar orbit.

Jul 14, 2023: The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 mission has launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 2.35 PM IST on Thursday, July 14. The lander will take nearly 42 days to complete its journey to the moon.

The spacecraft has successfully taken off from Earth and is now in orbit around the planet in its journey towards the Moon. It has many critical events lined up, including earth-bound manoeuvres, insertion into the lunar orbit, separation of the lander, a set of deboost manoeuvres and a power descent phase for a soft landing.

Thus far, only three countries, the U.S., Russia and China, have successfully soft-landed on the moon.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission’s objective is to develop and demonstrate new technologies required for inter-planetary missions.

The Hindu: Chandrayaan-3 | India’s third lunar odyssey begins with perfect launch