Back in 1972, when Ginnie came up with the idea for Ranulph Fiennes’ Transglobe Expedition, India had a meeting with the Soviets. An agreement was signed, according to which the Soviet Union would give us a launching facility for our satellite, in exchange for certain privileges. A cost estimate of Rs 3 crore was made, which, when approved by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, laid down the foundation for India’s first satellite.
A big task Udupi Ramachandra Rao, who started out as a cosmic ray scientist under Vikram Sarabhai before going through a stint at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was placed at the helm of the project to build the satellite. Rao, as the Project Director, had the necessary financial backing, but lacked people with experience to work with and a suitable place to set shop.
A team comprising of young scientists and engineers with the basic knowledge was formed. While Rao himself had limited experience, none of the others knew anything about making a satellite, which meant that the technical know-how had to be learnt from scratch.
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As for the location for the site, Peenya, an industrial area in Bengaluru, was chosen. Four sheds in this area was converted into a working station. This was placed above a laboratory, which was cleaned out to start off immediately.
Months of toil
Months of toil followed, which resulted in Aryabhata - a satellite that was 1.4 metres in diameter and a 26-sided polyhedron. Weighing 360 kgs, 24 of the sides - except the top and the bottom - were covered in solar cells.
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While designing and fabricating our own satellite was one of the primary objectives, the project also aimed at performing complex operations on the satellite while in orbit, set up necessary ground station capabilities, and conduct experiments in solar physics and X-ray astronomy.
The Volgograd Launch Station in Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, was used to launch Aryabhata on April 9, 1975 as per the agreement with the Soviets. The satellite had an apogee of 611 km, a perigee of 568 km, and an inclination of 50.7 degrees, giving it an orbital period of 96.46 minutes.
A failure in the satellite’s power system, however, meant that it had to be turned off on the fifth day in orbit. Despite being in operation for only five days, it had been capable of collecting valuable information, apart from contributing to the experience gathered in building the satellite. The satellite continued to transmit information for some time and eventually re-entered the earth’s atmosphere on February 10, 1992.
The learning curve that accompanied building the country’s first satellite was phenomenal. The decades that followed have seen a tremendous growth in India’s satellite capabilities, though we are still found to be wanting when it concerns rockets. That might just change when you lot take on the mantle!