Year-End Review -2022: Department of Space

Key achievements of the Department of Space for the last 8 years

(From 2014 to till date – 20^th Dec 2022)

Indian Space Programme and its ecosystem have been in a state of unprecedented vibrancy with various achievements. The glimpse of key milestones embraced by the department since 2014 till date is highlighted as below:

Key missions

• Altogether 44 spacecraft missions, 42 launch vehicle missions and 5 technology demonstrators, have been successfully realized, since 2014 till date.
• In January 2014, the first successful flight with indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage, in the GSLV-D5 launch vehicle was achieved and GSAT-14 was placed into GTO.
• In September 2014, India’s Mars Orbiter Spacecraft successfully entered into an orbit around planet Mars, putting India into a league of select nations which had sent a spacecraft to the Red Planet. The spacecraft is still functional even after 7 years of operation against the designed life of 6 months and serving nation with a lot of interesting science data.
• In December 2014, the country witnessed the experimental flight of the next generation launch vehicle – the GSLV MKIII. The LVM3-X/CARE Mission, the first experimental suborbital flight of the vehicle, launched the Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry experiment (CARE).
• AstroSat launched by PSLV in September 2015, is the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical and UV spectral bands simultaneously. AstroSat has made major breakthroughs by discovering five new galaxies.
• ISRO has established and operationalised Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) which provides highly accurate Position, Navigation and Time information to users in India and its surroundings. A total of 7 satellites form the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System [IRNSS] – all launched by PSLV, with IRNSS-1G completing the constellation in 2016. 
• Various NavIC based services have been rolled out in many key sectors like  – integration of NavIC-enabled devices with the enrolment architecture of UIDAI Aadhar enrolment, incorporation of NavIC in the Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) network, In agricultural drones and Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) etc.
• Successful flight testing of Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) was done on May 23, 2016 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. RLV-TD is one of the most technologically challenging endeavours of ISRO towards developing essential technologies for a fully reusable launch vehicle to enable low cost access to space.
• The first experimental mission of ISRO’s Scramjet Engine towards the realisation of Air Breathing Propulsion System was also successfully conducted in 2016 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.
• In 2017, PSLV C-37 created a world record by successfully placing 104 satellites in orbit during a single launch.
• As idea mooted by the Hon’ble Prime Minister in 18^th SAARC summit, ISRO has launched the 2.2 Ton communication satellite in 2017 to support neighbouring countries.
• The first developmental mission of GSLV Mk-III D1 was successfully accomplished in June-2017 and boosted GSAT-19 satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit.
• ISRO demonstrated a crucial technology element of Human spaceflight in July 2018- The Pad Abort Test (PAT) to qualify the Crew Escape System (CES). The Pad Abort Test flight was a demonstration of the capability of CES to evacuate the Crew in case of a contingency at launch Pad.
• In the Independence Day address – 2018, the Hon’ble Prime Minister announced the “Gaganyaan Programme”, marking India’s foray into the new age of human space exploration.
• GSAT-29 high throughput communication satellite was successfully launched on November 14, 2018, on-board GSLV Mk III-D2. It is providing satellite based connectivity to Jammu & Kashmir and North Eastern regions of India.
• In 2018, ISRO’s next generation high throughput communication satellite, GSAT-11 was successfully launched on December 05, 2018 from Kourou, French Guiana by Ariane-5 VA-246. Weighing about 5854 kg, GSAT-11 is the heaviest satellite built by ISRO.
• India’s second mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully launched on July 22, 2019 on-board GSLV Mk III-M1, first operational flight of this new launch vehicle. Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter is providing valuable science data for the research community.
• The launch of PSLV-C48/ RISAT-2BR1 in Dec 2019 marked the 50^th launch of PSLV, the workhorse launch vehicle.
• Quantum entanglement based real time Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) over 300m atmospheric channel along with quantum-secure text, image transmission and quantum-assisted two-way video calling was demonstrated on 27 January 2022.
• The Hon’ble Minister of State (Department of Space) dedicated ISRO System for Safe & Sustained Operations Management (IS4OM) to the nation in  Jul-2022.
• LVM3 (GSLV MkIII) M2/OneWeb India-1 Mission was successfully accomplished on 23rd October 2022. With this launch, LVM3 exemplifies Atmanirbharata and enhances India’s competitive edge in the global commercial launch service market.
• As part of Gaganyaan programme, new Test Vehicle for testing critical systems is developed. ‘Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Test (IMAT)’ of crew module deceleration system was successfully carried out at Babina Field Fire Range (BFFR), Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh on 18^th November 2022.
• ISRO successfully demonstrated new technology with Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD) – a game changer with multiple applications for future missions.
• Recently, PSLV-C54 was successfully launched EOS-06 satellite on 26^th   November 2022 along with Eight Nano-satellites including INDIA-BHUTAN SAT (INS-2B).

Academic support, Capacity building and Outreach

• In order to boost the space research activities, Space Technology Incubational Centres (STIC) at some of the key locations of the country were established, since 2018. Under this initiative, at present, nine Space Technology Cells (STC) are operational at academic institutions, six Space Technology Incubational Centres (STIC) are operational at Agartala, Trichy, Jalandhar, Rourkela, Nagpur & Bhopal and six Regional Academic Centre for Space (RACS) at Varanasi, Kurukshetra, Jaipur, Guwahati, Suratkal & Patna. Recently, Satish Dhawan Centre for Space Sciences is jointly established by ISRO/DoS and Central University of Jammu. A number of Non-Disclosure agreements (NDAs) and MOUs have been signed between ISRO and Academia.
• In June 2018, India announced a capacity building training programme UNNATI (UNispace Nanosatellite Assembly &Training by ISRO) on Nanosatellites development through a combination of theoretical coursework and hands-on training on Assembly, Integration and Testing (AIT). First batch of UNNATI Programme was conducted from 15^th January to 15^th March 2019 wherein 30 participants from 17 countries had benefitted. Second batch was held in Oct-Dec 2019 and third batch was held in Oct-Dec 2022. 
• In 2019, ISRO launched an annual special programme called “Young Scientist Programme” or the “YUva VIgyani KAryakram” (YUVIKA) in 2019, in line with the Government’s vision “Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan”. The Program is primarily aimed at imparting basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space Science and Space Applications to the young talents with the intent of encouraging them in the fascinating domain of outer space. Second batch of YUVIKA programme was held in May 2022.
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Social Alpha today signed an MoU in Dec 2022 to launch SpaceTech Innovation Network (SpIN), India’s first dedicated platform for innovation curation and venture development for the burgeoning space entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Reforms and enhanced participation of industries

• In 2019, the NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) got incorporated, as a wholly owned Government of India Undertaking/ Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE), under the administrative control of Department of Space (DOS), to enable Indian Industries to scale up high-technology manufacturing base for space programme and to commercially exploit the products and services emanating from the Indian Space Programme for meeting the domestic and global customer needs
• On June 26, 2020, the Government of India announced Space Sector Reforms – a major transformation of Indian Space Sector with enhanced participation of private players in Indian space programme and playing key roles to boost India’s market share in Global Space Economy. IN-SPACe Headquarters at Ahmedabad was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister in Jun-2022.
• Setting up of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and enhancing the role New Space India Limited (NSIL) are the two major thrust areas in the Reform.
• The establishment of IN-SPACe was announced in June 2020 by Government of India, as an autonomous body under Department of Space, to create eco-system of industry, academia and start-ups and to attract major share in the global space economy, by authorizing and regulating activities of NGEs in space sector through detailed guidelines and procedures.
• Launch of Vikram-S (Prarambh mission), a suborbital launch vehicle from M/s Skyroot Aerospace Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, was accomplished successfully on 18^th November 2022.
• First private launchpad & mission control center established by M/s Agnikul Cosmos Pvt. Ltd., Chennai in ISRO campus at SDSC, SHAR on 25th November 2022. Agnilet Semi-cryogenic rocket engine developed by Agnikul was successfully hot tested at ISRO facility on 04th November 2022.
• HAL and L&T consortia will be Indian Industry partner for end-to-end production of 5 Nos. of PSLV, with a contract value of Rs. 824 crores.
• Two nano-satellites from Indian space start-up M/s DhruvaSpace were launched as a rideshare passenger in PSLV-C54 mission. Gen-1 satellites from M/s OneWeb was launched using LVM3 (GSLV Mk-III).
• GSAT-24 communication satellite which is the first demand driven mission of NSIL was launched from Kourou, French Guiana, in June 2022.
• NSIL has signed 19 Technology Transfer Agreements and has successfully transferred 8 ISRO developed Technologies to Indian Industry.
• Indian Space Policy – 2022 policy is cleared by the Space Commission. The Policy has undergone extensive deliberations with industry groups, inter-ministerial consultations, has been reviewed by Empowered Technology Group and is under further approval process.

Disaster Management

Monitoring flood inundation (about 250+ flood inundation maps/ flood season), generation of flood hazard zonation atlases (Assam, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh & Uttar Pradesh) of flood prone states, developing flood early warning models (Brahmaputra, Godawari & Tapi), multiple daily detections & dissemination of active forest fires (>35,000 detections/ forest fire season), forecasting cyclone track; intensity & landfall, damage assessment due to earth quakes and landslides, etc. were carried out.

COVID-19 related supports

During the COVID-19 pandemic period, devices like Mechanical Ventilator & Medical Oxygen Concentrator were developed and the technologies are transferred to Indian industries.

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