Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)  

ISRO is India's national space agency, operating under the Department of Space, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. 

•  Vision: To harness space technology for national development and conduct space science research and planetary exploration. 
•  Commercial Arm: Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL) serves as ISRO's marketing arm, promoting and commercially exploiting space products, providing technical consultancy services and facilitating the transfer of technologies developed by ISRO. 
•  Leadership: As of January 14, 2025, Dr. V. Narayanan has been appointed as the Chairman of ISRO, succeeding Shri S. Somanath.  
•  Historical Background 
  • Initiated in the 1960s under Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the founding father of the Indian space program. 
  • Early focus areas included: 
    • Development of satellites for communication and remote sensing. 
    • Establishment of space transportation systems. 
    • Implementation of application programs. 
  • The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was established under the leadership of Dr. Sarabhai and Dr. Ramanathan. 
•  ISRO’s Key Milestones 

• Recent Achievements 
  • August 2023: Achieved a historic soft landing near the lunar south pole with the Chandrayaan-3 mission, making India the first nation to land in this region. 
  • September 2023: Launched Aditya-L1, India's first solar observatory mission, to study the Sun's outermost layers. 
  • December 2024: Initiated the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) by launching two satellites designed to demonstrate docking capabilities. 
  • January 16, 2025: Successfully executed the docking of the two SpaDeX satellites, making India the fourth country to achieve this feat.  
•  Future Endeavors 
  • NISAR Mission: A collaborative Earth-observing mission with NASA, scheduled for launch in March 2025, aiming to provide high-resolution data on Earth's ecosystems, natural hazards, and climate change.  
  • Space Station: Plans to establish an Indian space station by 2035. 
  • Manned Lunar Mission: Aiming to land an Indian astronaut on the Moon by 2040.