India's First National Space Day

India is celebrating its inaugural National Space Day on August 23, 2024, to mark the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s Vikram Lander on the Moon’s southern polar region. This achievement is significant as India became the first country to land in this uncharted region and the fourth overall to achieve a lunar landing. The occasion is commemorated with the theme "Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India's Space Saga".

About Chandrayaan-3

• Chandrayaan-3, developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), successfully landed the Vikram Lander and the Pragyaan Rover on the Moon.
• This mission not only accomplished a soft landing but also made India the first nation to land on the Moon's southern polar region, highlighting India's growing capabilities in space exploration.

Major Space Missions and Achievements

• Aditya-L1: This mission aims to study the Sun from the first Earth-Sun Lagrange point (L1), a stable point in space that allows continuous observation of the Sun. Aditya-L1 reached L1 and has been conducting observations, including the study of a solar storm that occurred in May 2024.
• Gaganyaan TV-D1: As part of the Gaganyaan human spaceflight program, this mission tested the Crew Escape System (CES) of the spacecraft.
  • The test demonstrated the CES’s ability to safely separate from the test vehicle, protect the crew module, and ensure it decelerates effectively before splashing down into the Bay of Bengal.
  • The crew module was successfully recovered by the Indian Navy vessel INS Shakthi.
• XPoSat: The X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) was launched to study the polarization of X-ray radiation. This mission aims to enhance our understanding of various cosmic sources of radiation.
  • XPoSat is India’s second X-ray polarimeter satellite, following NASA’s IPEX launched in 2021.
  • It carries two main instruments: XSPECT and POLIX, which began operations shortly after the launch.
• INSAT-3DS: This meteorological satellite was launched to test the capabilities of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
  • INSAT-3DS plays a crucial role in validating the GSLV before the critical launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, scheduled for early 2025.
• RLV-TD: The Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV-TD), specifically the Pushpak variant, underwent two landing experiments.
  • These tests simulated the vehicle’s landing from space, with one test dropping the vehicle along its intended landing path and another offset by 500 meters.
  • These tests are pivotal for developing reusable launch vehicles for future space missions.
• SSLV: The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) successfully launched the EOS-08 and SR-0 Demosat satellites into orbit.
  • This mission concluded the development phase of the SSLV, which is now ready for commercial use. EOS-08 includes payloads for earth observation in the infrared range and other advanced technologies.