Historic Milestone:
- ISRO will oversee its 100th launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, with the GSLV-F15 mission.
- This launch will place the NVS-02 navigation satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.
Relevance : GS 3(Space)
First Launch & Early Struggles:
- The first ISRO launch took place on August 10, 1979, with SLV-3 E10 carrying the Rohini Technology Payload, which was only partially successful.
- The mission was directed by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (then Director at ISRO), and recovery from the setback led to the success of SLV-3E2 in 1980, placing the Rohini satellite (RS-1) in orbit.
Mission Evolution:
- ISRO has successfully launched a variety of missions since, including:
- 2 SLV missions
- 4 Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) missions
- 62 PSLV missions (workhorse of ISRO)
- 16 GSLV missions
- 7 LMV3 missions
- 3 SSLV missions
- 1 Reusable Launch Vehicle mission
- 1 Test Vehicle Abort Mission
- 1 Pad Abort Test (PAT) as part of the Gaganyaan program.
Strategic Location of Sriharikota:
- The SDSC was chosen for its ideal features:
- Launch azimuth corridor for diverse missions.
- Proximity to the equator, aiding eastward launches.
- Large uninhabited safety zones.
Landmark Missions:
- Chandrayaan-1 (2008): India’s first lunar mission.
- Chandrayaan-2 (2019): India’s second lunar mission, with the GSLV-Mk III – M1.
- Chandrayaan-3 (2023): India’s successful mission to land on the moon’s polar region.
- Mars Orbiter Mission (2013): India’s first interplanetary mission.
- Aditya-L1 (2023): India’s first mission to study the Sun.
Record-Breaking Launch:
- The PSLV-C37 (2017) mission set a record by launching 104 satellites in a single flight, a feat later surpassed by SpaceX Falcon 9 in 2021 (launching 143 satellites).
Setbacks and Failures:
- ISRO has faced failures in several launches, including:
- GSLV-F02/INSAT-4C (2006)
- GSLV-D3/GSAT-4 (2010)
- GSLV-F06/GSAT-5P (2010)
- GSLV-F10/EOS-03 (2021).
