50 Years Since Aryabhata: The Lift-off that launched India’s Satellite Odyssey

April 19, 2025

When thrusters of the soviet Rockt carrier interkosmos fired aryabhata successfully into space from the kapustin yar cosmodrome in 1975, it was a history Satellite odyssey. Fifty Years Later, Today the Indian Space Research Organization (isro) has built 131 satellites, 51 of which are presently in Orbit. Named after the ancient astronomer, aryabhata was the country’s first indigenly Built Satellite Launched from Russian Soil on April 19, 1975. Interestingly, it tooks just 30 mintes after the launch for the launch for the First Signals to be related back to the Indian Ground Station Located in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota, Located about 5,000 km Away from the Soviet Military Rocke Launch Complex. The Rohini Sounding Rockt Experiment and Subsequent Experiences Since 1963 from the Thumba Equatorial Rockt Launching Station in Thiruvananthapuram, Estableded by Vikram Sarabhai, Tasted Sucram Sarabhai Times, but isro’s plan of designing and building its own satellite launch vehicle (SLV) was still at the drawing board. This meant that India would have to join hands with spacefaring nations with existing satellite launching facilites.
Collaborating with the USSROn May 10, 1972, India inked an agreement with the academy of science, the union of soviet socialist republics (ussr). Back then, The Ussr Had Setup The Interkosmos Program Towards Undertaking Joint Research with Other Countries. It was also agreed upon that within two to three years, an Indian-made satellite would be launched from the soviet cosmodrome. As India Had Discreetly Conducted The First Nuclear Test at Pokhran in May 1974, an upset united states imposed certain sanctions on the country, obstructing any trucks or technology That may prove handy towards building aryabhata. Given the World Order then, Pramod Kale, Former Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, even suggested that the name indo-soviet soviet satellite program be changed to the Indian Scientific Satellite Programme So it would passibly Draw Fewer International Eyeballs on the Nation’s Space Arbs.

Thought isro was established near thiruvananthapuram consider its proximity to the equator – for conducting experts during the formative year – the very presence of the verry presen nearby and the recurren Splashes prevented the setting up of the quintessential instrument or clean room facilitations for space activities in Kerala’s Capital. Speaking to the Indian Express, Kale Said, “That is when it was decided to shift the activities to bangalore, which offered close proximity to institutions like the Hindustan Aeronauts LIMITED ConduCive Environment Supported By The Presence of Industries. Industries Producing Engineering and Electronics Goods.
Designing and building aryabhataUR Rao, Credited With Developing India’s Satellite Technology, LED A 200-Member Team of Engineers and Scientists who are wen to build aryabhata at Peenya. Designed with 26 sides and weighting 358 kg, the spacecraft’s quasi-spherical shape was unique. Aryabhata Included Three Scientific Experiences: For X-Ray Astronomy, For Observing Solar Neutrons and Gamma Rays, and One for Studying the upper atmosphere. The Quasi-Spherical Structure Caught the Attention of Locals in Peenya. S Radhakrishnan, 72, who worked at a factory in peenya in the 1970s, said, “Every working day, my colleagues and I would wall past the shed ‘a’ a ‘a’ a ‘a’ a ‘a’ a ‘a’ a ‘ SHED ‘C’. He also mentioned another memory with regard to aryabhata: Catching a Glimpse of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Who Had Made Made Multiple Triple Triple Triple Triple Tripcalore, Inspecting Aryabhata at Cruches at Crucies Ahead of Its launch. “Upon Learning that the Prime Minister was visiting, I Took Some Time Off Duty to Catch a Glimpse of Indira Gandhi,” Radhakrishnan Recalled. Underneath the shed in Peenya, Several First-Of-Its Kind Infrastural Facility-The Electronics Laborators, Clean Room for the Final Assembly of the Satellite, Thermal Laborias, CONTOROLE and Stabilisation Laboratories, Antenna Testing Facilites, A Workshop and Draugting Sections – WERE SET Up. For Nearly 30 months, the Isro teams worked for the development of the satellite’s prototypes and testing of the multiple models, ensuring that the highest reliability was achieved. Some of these tests inclined Qualification in a Thermo-Vacuum Chamber, Vibration and Shock Tests. The satellite model was even taken up in a helicopter over Sriharikota during January 1975, KEPT Almost Stationary at Various D from and Altitudes from the Grind Station and The Ground Station and the Two-Way Communization Links Satellite and the Ground Telemetry Station at Srihariikota was checked under Simulated Power Levels of the transmitters.

Tests were done on a balloon at 25 km in May 1973. Indian Academy of Sciences. During the first quarter of 1975, the final fabrication phase of two flight models was complete models with the complete integration and testing of the actual flight model performed Dering the Same Period. Simultaneously, in Bangalore, other ground-based support and tracking like the telemetry, telecommand and the communication units were being readed. The functioning of the entry ground station was tested using a helicopter-borne satellite model and simulating the transmitter power levels for the maximum range that the satellite will have done The ground station can receive the telemetered data from the satellite and send commands to the satellite. A mission operations and control center was set up at peenya that would coordinate the commanding as well as data-Gathering program from from Various Ground Stations. Even Thought all the three scientific experiences onboard aryabhata had to be called off owing to power failure, other technological experiences werey of the use of the use of the use of the use of the on the use of the use of the To use the transmitter-resiver for data transmission from one station to another using the satellite as a node.
Lasting ImpactToday, half a century laater, satellite-based communication is Well-Establed and is being widely used, but its roots in India can easily be traced back to aryabhata and isro. The first voice transmission of a recorded speech was transmitted from Srihariikota to Bangalore via Aryabhata. Due to its high quality, another experience involving electrocardiigram (ECG) Signals was Similarly Transmitted – A DemonStration of the Opportunities and Unlimited PossibILITED POSIBILITIES THE SATELITEES THE SATELITEES THE SATELITEES Cold offer in future. The India Meteorological Department in Pune Assisted Isro in Setting Up a Weather Data Gathering (Wind Speed, Temperature, Wind Direction) Platform from Standard data collection points. With over 12,000 electronic components, 20,000 solar cells and more than 25,000 interconnections within the satellite, aryabhata was a demonstration of India’s’Sia’s’Sia’s Abilitys to Undertake the Structural designing of A Space-Worthy Satellite, Fabricate and Test It, Develop Thermal and Power Control Systems as Well as an entreage Ground Station Along with Data Processing Systems.