Aryabhata was

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

's first

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

,"Aryabhata" in ''

The New Encyclopædia Britannica ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 611. named after the famous Indian astronomer. It was launched on 19 April 1975 from

Kapustin Yar Kapustin Yar (russian: Капустин Яр) is a Russian rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, material ...

, a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

rocket launch and development site in

Astrakhan Oblast Astrakhan Oblast (russian: Астраха́нская о́бласть, ''Astrakhanskaya oblast'', , ''Astrakhan oblysy'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southern Russia. Its administrative center ...

using a

Kosmos-3M The Kosmos-3M (russian: Космос-3М meaning "''Cosmos''", GRAU index 11K65M) was a Russian space launch vehicle, member of the Kosmos rocket family. It was a liquid-fueled two-stage launch vehicle, first launched in 1967 and with over 420 ...

launch vehicle. It was built by the

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

, and launched by the Soviet Union as a part of the Soviet

Interkosmos Interkosmos (russian: Интеркосмос) was a Soviet space program, designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with crewed and uncrewed space missions. The program was formed in April 1967 in Moscow. All members of the program from USSR ...

programme which provided access to space for friendly states.

Launch

It was launched by India on 19 April 1975 from

, a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n rocket launch and development site in

using a

launch vehicle. It was built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).The launch came from an agreement between India and the Soviet Union directed by UR Rao and signed in 1972. It allowed the USSR to use Indian ports for tracking ships and launching vessels in return for launching various different Indian satellites. On 19 April 1975, the satellite's 96.46-minute orbit had an

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ellip ...

of and a perigee of , at an inclination of 50.7 degrees. It was built to conduct experiments in X-ray astronomy, aeronomics, and solar physics. The spacecraft was a 26-sided polyhedron in diameter. All faces (except the top and bottom) were covered with solar cells. A power failure halted experiments after four days and 60 orbits with all signals from the spacecraft lost after five days of the operation. Spacecraft mainframe remained active till March 1981. Due to orbital decay the satellite entered Earth's atmosphere on 10 February 1992.

Legacy

*It was named after the 5th century astronomer and mathematician from India by

Aryabhata Aryabhata (ISO: ) or Aryabhata I (476–550 CE) was an Indian mathematician and astronomer of the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. He flourished in the Gupta Era and produced works such as the ''Aryabhatiya'' (which ...

. * The satellite's image appeared on the reverse of Indian two rupee banknotes between 1976 and 1997 (

Pick catalog The ''Standard Catalog of World Paper Money'' was a well-known catalogue of banknotes that was published by Krause Publications in three volumes. These catalogues are commonly known in the numismatic trade as the Pick catalogues, as the numberi ...

). File:1984 CPA 5493.jpg, 1984 USSR stamp featuring Bhaskara-I, Bhaskara-II and Aryabhata satellites File:2 Rupees (Reverse) Aryabhata.jpg, Illustration of Aryabhata spacecraft on 2 currency bill

References

External links

Aryabhata-1 Official ISRO Website

NSSDC Master Catalog Search
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aryabhata (Satellite) Spacecraft which reentered in 1992 1975 in the Soviet Union 1975 in India India–Soviet Union relations First artificial satellites of a country Satellites of India Spacecraft launched in 1975

Launch

Legacy

See also

References

External links