• Space activities in the country were initiated with the setting up of the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) in 1962.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was established in August 1969.
• The Government of India constituted the Space Commission and established the Department of Space (DOS) in June 1972 and brought ISRO under DOS in September 1972.
• PSLV, in its twenty-first flight (PSLV-C19), launched India’s first radar imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) from Sriharikota on April 26, 2012 of which one orbited India’s Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) and the other a French Remote Sensing Satellite SPOT-6 and the Japanese satellite PROITERES.
• In its twenty-second flight (PSLV-C21), PSLV successfully launched the French earth observation satellite SPOT-6, along with Japanese micro-satellite PROITERES from Sriharikota on September 09, 2012.
• India’s heaviest communication satellite, GSAT-10, was successfully launched by Ariane-5 VA 209 from Kourou, French Guiana on September 29, 2012.
• PSLV, in its twenty-third flight (PSLV-C20), successfully launched Indo-French Satellite SARAL along with six smaller foreign satellites from Sriharikota on February 25, 2013.
• ISRO currently has a constellation of 9 communication satellites, 1 meteoro- logical satellite, 10 earth observation satellites and 1 scientific satellite.

GROWTH DRIVERS

• Formal co-operative arrangements are currently in place with space agencies of 33 countries and 3 multinational bodies, namely, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Egypt, European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), European Organisation for Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), European Space Agency (ESA), France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Norway, Peru, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, the Netherlands, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Venezuela.
• The areas of co-operation address mainly remote sensing of the earth, satellite communication, launch services, telemetry and tracking support, space exploration, space law and capacity building.
• Co-operative instruments signed during last year are:

1. An implementation arrangement between ISRO and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of USA for collaboration of OCEANSAT-2 activities.

2. Implementing arrangement between ISRO and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of USA for the collaboration of OCEANSAT-2 activities.

3. Implementing arrangements between ISRO and NASA for co-operation on Global Precipitation Measurement and Megha-Tropiques.

4. Memorandum of Understanding between India and Australia concerning co-operation in Civil Space Science, Technology and Education.

5. Cooperation Agreement among ISRO, CNES and EUMETSAT concerning the use of Near Real-Time Megha-Tropiques data.

• ISRO and the French National Space Agency (CNES) have worked in synergy to make available data products from Indo-French Megha-Tropiques satellite to the global scientific community for validation activities.
• India-USA space cooperation made significant progress during last year and several follow-up actions of the third meeting of India-USA Joint Working Group on Civil Space Cooperation held at Bangalore in July 2011 were actively pursued.
• The wind products derived from OCEANSAT-2 Scatterometer are disseminated globally since October 2012 for operational global applications through an arrangement with EUMETSAT.
• The processed data from meteorological satellites of other nations are made available by EUMETSAT to Indian scientific community through a system called ‘EUMETCast’.
• ISRO and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are working on the development of the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) planned on ISRO’s multi wavelength astronomy satellite ASTROSAT.
• ISRO continues to share its facilities, expertise and services in the application of space technology through hosting of United Nations (UN) affiliated Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTE-AP). As of now, there are more than 1100 beneficiaries from 52 countries.
• ISRO, on behalf of India, continues to play an active role in the deliberation of the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS).

PROJECTS