'One remembers Professor Rao with fondness as the man who gave the space programme a very professional front face, a very different appearance from the raw energy of a Vikram Sarabhai or the polished passion of a Dr Satish Dhawan.'
Countdown began on Thursday for the launch of the latest navigation satellite that will make India on par with the GPS of the US.
Crossing a major milestone in the country's space history, ISRO's Mars Orbiter mission ventured out of Earth's sphere of influence for the first time in an attempt to reach the red planet's orbit
Despite the odd time, hordes of enthusiasts had reached the island, some of them travelling long distances on two wheelers, to witness the historic moment.
Except Pakistan, seven SAARC countries are a part of the project.
India's successful launch of its Mars mission has been described by the mainstream American media as "technological leap" and "a symbolic coup" against China in this field.
The second orbit raising manoeuvre of India's Mars Orbiter spacecraft was performed in the early hours of Friday, three days after its successful launch by PSLV C-25 into orbit around the Earth.
India scripted history by successfully launching EMISAT, a military satellite, and 28 foreign nano satellites on-board its polar rocket from Sriharikota on Monday, in a complex mission which marked many a first for Indian Space Research Organisation.
Antrix, ISRO's commercial arm, is eyeing 10% of the $357 billion global market.
The six satellites will be launched on PSLV-C29 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh on December 16, 2015.
Cartosat-3 satellite is a third-generation agile advanced satellite having high-resolution imaging capability.
The Indian Space Research Organisation said that the countdown started at 6.51 am on Sunday.
The successful launch of the maiden solar mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation came on the heels of the historic lunar landing mission - Chandrayaan-3.
"We started it by 1.17 am and have successfully completed the first orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft. Right now, the computation is going on," an ISRO spokesman told PTI.
'China pumps in a lot more money than what we do. China's space budget is close to $5 billion while it is hardly $1 billion for us.' 'We manage the programmes within the constraints of our budget. The main difference is we prioritise.'
India is the fourth country to demonstrate the flight testing of Scramjet Engine after the United States, Russia and European Space Agency.
A day after suffering a glitch during the fourth orbit raising operation on its Mars Orbiter Mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation on Tuesday successfully completed the supplementary manoeuvre, raising the spacecraft's apogee (farthest distance from Earth) to over 1,18,000 km.
"Since its injection into Earth's orbit yesterday, it has been functioning smoothly on the orbit. We are planning to perform orbit raising manoeuvres in the early hours of of Thursday," an Indian Space Research Organisation spokesman told PTI over phone.
Nerves gave way to smiles at the spaceport in Sriharikota as delays and an anomaly-triggered 'hold' forced Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists to revise the launch schedule of a test vehicle carrying payloads related to the country's ambitious human space flight mission, Gaganyaan which soared into skies after initial hiccups.
This is ISRO's new record of launching 20 satellites, including those from the US, Germany, Canada and Indonesia.
RESOURCESAT-2A, intended for resource monitoring, is a follow-on mission to RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2, launched in 2003 and 2011 respectively. It is intended to continue the remote sensing data services to global users provided by RESOURCESAT-1 and 2.
The Indian space agency is all set to embark on its most complex mission.
Taking its baby steps towards realising India's ambition to send humans into space, Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday successfully tested the atmospheric re-entry of a crew module after its heaviest launch vehicle GSLV MK III blasted off from Sriharkota.
India's heavy-lift rocket GSLV MkIII, carrying communication satellite GSAT-19.
A recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
The stage is set for the launch of India's satellite IRNSS-1D on Saturday from Sriharikota onboard workhorse PSLV-C27 that would pave the way for the country's own navigation system on par with the GPS of United States.
Chandrayaan 3 follows the Chandrayaan 2 mission which did not achieve the desired soft landing on the surface of the moon in 2019, disappointing the scientists.
According to his family friends, Narasimha was in the league of the Missile Man of India and former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.
The RISAT-2B would replace the RISAT-2, which has been actively used by India to monitor activities in camps across the border in Pakistan to thwart infiltration bids by terrorists.
PSLV C-29 blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, about 110 km from Chennai, at 6 pm and released the six satellites one by one into a 550 km circular orbit.
The ISRO is aiming for a soft landing of the lander in the South Pole region of the moon where no country has gone so far.
After having successfully completed three orbit raising manoeuvres, ISRO's Mars Orbiter mission on Monday suffered a glitch as it failed to achieve the targeted apogee (farthest distance from Earth) of one lakh km during the fourth orbit raising operation in the early hours.
The launch of a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle was called off by the Indian Space Reasearch Organisation at the eleventh hour on Monday due to a fuel leak in its second stage -- in a setback to the mission to test its homegrown cryogenic engine -- after its failure three years ago.
This is the first mission by the Indian Speace Research Organisation this year.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan said there might by a postponement if the weather was not conducive.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli, on Monday, lauded ace sprinter Hima Das for winning five gold medals in a span of 20 days.
Godrej and some other firms are frustrated at what they say is the slow execution of projects and lack of government support, which are hampering India's efforts to compete with China and Russia as a cheaper option for launching satellites.
Indian Space Research Organisation will announce a revised launch date later.
Enthused over its successful launch of GSLV D5 with GSAT-14 communication satellite from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Sunday, the Indian Space Research Organisation is planning a series of GSLV launches and an experimental launch of the advanced version GSLV Mark III soon from the spaceport.
Other than the Cartosat-2 series satellite, the PSLV is carrying 29 nano satellites from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America besides a nano satellite from India.
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