From Thumba to tomorrow: Indian space programme is preparing for its biggest leap yet

From Sounding Rockets to Lunar Landings

On August 23, 2023, India achieved an image it had waited decades to see: a spacecraft settling on the Moon, its lander and rover beginning work near the lunar south polar region. But the significance of Chandrayaan-3 was perhaps easier to understand by looking backwards. Six decades earlier, India was still figuring out how to launch a sounding rocket from a small range at Thumba, near Thiruvananthapuram. There were no Indian satellites, no launch vehicles capable of placing them in orbit, and no sprawling network of mission control centres, tracking stations, and testing facilities. The Indian space programme itself did not yet exist in the form we know it today.

As India marked National Space Day, the distance between those two moments offers perhaps the clearest measure of how far the programme has travelled.

The Early Years: Foundations of an Ambition

The journey began in 1962 with the creation of the Indian National Committee for Space Research (Incospar) and the decision to establish the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station. The first sounding rocket was launched from Thumba on November 21, 1963. Six years later, on August 15, 1969, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was formed. In 1972, the government created the Space Commission and the Department of Space, bringing ISRO under the latter.

The ambition, however, was never simply to join the global race to space. Vikram Sarabhai's vision was shaped by a more practical question: what could space technology do for a country that still faced enormous developmental challenges? That question defined the first phase of the programme.

The launch of Aryabhata, India's first satellite, in 1975 was a technological landmark. But the same period also saw experiments that revealed how satellites could be used to reach people on the ground. The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) used satellite broadcasting to bring television programmes to remote communities. This was followed by the development of indigenous launch vehicles, starting with the SLV-3. The first experimental flight of the SLV-3 in 1979 failed to place its Rohini payload in orbit, but on July 18, 1980, the second experimental flight succeeded, placing Rohini in orbit.

Building Capability: Satellites and Launch Vehicles

In 1981, APPLE demonstrated India's communication satellite capability. The IRS-1A, launched in 1988, became India's first operational remote sensing satellite. Over the years, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) became the workhorse of the Indian space programme, carrying Indian and foreign satellites into orbit. The UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) has built more than 130 satellites, and the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota operates two launch pads.

The GSLV was developed to place heavier satellites in more demanding orbits, and later the LVM3 was developed as India's heavy-lift launcher. The SSLV was added as a vehicle aimed at the small-satellite market. A Next Generation Launch Vehicle is also being developed.

Exploring Beyond Earth

India's scientific exploration expanded beyond Earth's orbit. Chandrayaan-1, launched in 2008, helped establish the presence of water molecules on the lunar surface. The Mars Orbiter Mission lifted off in 2013 aboard a PSLV and entered Martian orbit in 2014, making India the first country to reach Mars on its maiden attempt. Chandrayaan-2 failed to achieve a soft landing in 2019, but the lessons learned contributed to the success of Chandrayaan-3.

Aditya-L1 has taken India into solar observation. Gaganyaan is pushing the Indian space programme into human spaceflight. Chandrayaan-4 is being planned as a lunar sample-return mission, and Chandrayaan-5 (Lupex), a collaboration with Japan, is intended to study lunar polar volatiles. A Venus Orbiter Mission and a future Mars Lander Mission are part of India's longer scientific pipeline.

Opening to the Private Sector

In recent years, India has opened its space programme to private participation. IN-SPACe was created as the agency to promote, authorise and regulate private space activity. NSIL has been tasked with expanding the commercial and industrial side of the Indian space programme. This marks a shift from an ISRO-centric model to a wider ecosystem with private sector involvement.

Future Goals: Space Station and Moon Landing by 2040

Under India's Space Vision 2047, the government has set goals of establishing the Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035 and landing an Indian on the Moon by 2040. ISRO is to develop the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) before the space station. National Space Day marks the date of the Chandrayaan-3 landing, serving as an annual reminder of how far India has come and how far it plans to go.