India built the first satellite, Aryabhata, on April 19, 1975. The satellite was developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The aim behind developing the first Indian unmanned earth satellite was to conduct experiments in X-ray astronomy, aeronomics and solar physics.
Here we will discuss about a few facts which the people barely know or they did not know-
India’s first woman prime minister Indira Gandhi named the satellite, Aryabhata. The satellite was named after the famous astronomer and mathematician of the fifth century.
The weight of the satellite was 360 kilograms which was built by ISRO and launched by Russia from their Kapustin Yar rocket launch. Russia had used a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle for the rocket launch.
A toilet in Bengaluru (then Bangalore) had been converted into a satellite data receiving centre.
A failure was also reported in the satellite’s electrical power system which had halted experiments for four days. The initial cost of the satellite project was Rs 3 crore but it later went up as cost of furniture and other things increased.
The Reserve Bank of India celebrated the event by printing the satellite on the back of Rs 2 banknotes between 1976-1977. India and Russia had together observed the event by releasing a postal stamp.
The satellite’s real-time data transmission rate was 256 bits/sec. Aryabhata re-entered Earth space after 17 years on February 11, 1992.
