Space Technology @iaspcsfactory

NISAR(NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) :

● Successfully launched on 30 July 2025 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota (AP)
● GSLV F16 Rocket carried the Earth Observation Satellite injecting into a sun-synchronous orbit
● Wight 2392 kg & Mission life of 5 Years
● First satellite jointly developed by ISRO & NASA
● Purpose: Earth observation and disaster response- can detect very small changes on Earth’s
Surface
● First satellite to observe earth with a dual frequency SAR(Synthetic Aperture Radar)- NASA’s
L-band with ISRO’s S-band.
Axiom Mission 4: Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to enter the ISS.
● Second Indian in space after Rakesh Sharma (1984).

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● Flew aboard Axiom Mission 4, launched by SpaceX in June 2025.

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● Mission crew: Whitson(USA), Shukla (India), Uznański (Poland), Kapu (Hungary).
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Shukla is also part of India’s Gaganyaan. ct
Other Gaganyaan astronauts: Ajit Krishnan, Angad Pratap, Prashanth Nair
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NVS-02: ISRO’s 100th launch (Jan 2025); the second satellite of the NaVIC navigation system; From
Sriharikota ; Used Satellite GSLV F15
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PSLV-C61 / EOS 09 (Earth Observation Satellite) Mission: failed due to third-stage malfunction;
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ISRO’s 101st mission (May 2025)

Biomass Mission: by European Space Agency to map global forests & their carbon content between
75°N and 56°S with 3D imaging; Vega C rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. (April 2025)
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Chandrayaan-3 – ChaSTE Instrument: First device to measure in-situ temperature on Moon’s South
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Pole.
● Found big temperature difference: 50°C (surface) → -10°C (just 8 cm below).
● Reveals high insulation of lunar soil, crucial for habitats and ice preservation
Lunar Trailblazer Satellite: by NASA; For water distribution on the moon
Gaia: Space observatory of ESA; retired in March 2025; Launched in 2013; 3D Map of Milky Way.
Chandrayaan-5 / LUPEX Mission: India-Japan joint mission to explore lunar south pole(ISRO to
build the lander; JAXA to launch using H3 rocket)
PUNCH Mission : by NASA; to understand how solar atmosphere turns into solar wind
SPHEREx Satellite: by NASA; to explore early universe and formation of stars & galaxies
Euclid Telescope: By ESA, studies the universe’s 10-billion-year evolution to understand dark energy,
dark matter, and gravity.
 10-Tonne Propellant Mixer: Developed by ISRO & CMTI Bengaluru; Used for mixing solid rocket
propellant safely and efficiently.
SpaDeX Mission -ISRO: Space Docking Experiment.
● Achieved space docking, between two satellites in Jan 2025
● Become 4th country after USA, Russia, China.
Mission ShakthiSAT: Announced by Space Kidz India (SKI) and ISRO.
● All-girls lunar mission with global participation.
● Involves 12,000 girls from 108 countries.
● Launch planned in Sept 2026 using ISRO’s PSLV.
Japan-India Space Debris Project: By Orbital Lasers (Japan) and InspeCity (India); Uses laser
energy to stop space junk rotation by vaporizing its surface, making it easier to remove

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Proba-3 Mission of ESA: Launched by ISRO; to study Sun’s corona.

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ISRO’s PSLV-C37 Mission: set a world record by deploying 104 satellites in a single launch. – 1
Indian (Cartosat-2D) 103 foreign satellites
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SCOT Satellite:World’s 1st commercial space surveillance satellite ;launched by Digantara.
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Mission Firefly: India’s 1st private hyperspectral imaging satellite constellation;Launched by Pixxel
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Sunita Williams Returns (Mar 18, 2025): Returned from 9-month ISS mission with 286 days in
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space ( setting new record with 62 hrs 6 mins spacewalks, surpassing Peggy Whitson); launched via
Boeing Starliner (June 2024), returned aboard SpaceX Dragon.
Polaris Dawn Mission: Launched via SpaceX Falcon 9; Achieved first-ever commercial spacewalk;
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Reached highest Earth orbit

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India’s First Analog Mission: Simulates Moon/Mars-like life at Leh, Ladakh; Launched by
ISRO+AAKA Space Studio+ the University of Ladakh
Parker Solar Probe:NASA; became the closest human-made object to the Sun
Tianwen-2 Mission: China; to collect asteroid samples and study comet
‘Three Gorges Antarctic Eye’ Telescope: Inaugurated by China in Antarctica for space studies.
New Bacteria Discovered in Space: Niallia tiangongensis; by Chinese scientists; on the Tiangong
space station during the Shenzhou 15 mission.
Student rocket launch trials: by ISRO in Kushinagar, UP for IN-SPACe’s model rocketry
competition to be held in October 2025
ISRO Third Launch Pad approved at Sriharikota for launching new-generation space vehicles.
China launched three astronauts to its Tiangong space station via Shenzhou-20 mission.
FireSat: Launched by Google; to track wildfires using AI and multispectral imagery.
ASSAMSAT: Assam’s own satellite
Cherenkov Telescope, Ladakh Asia’s largest; inaugurated at Hanle, Ladakh in Oct 2024.
Europa Clipper launched by NASA to explore Jupiter’s moon for signs of life.
K2-18b: Strongest signs of life found on exoplanet K2-18b by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
Mission Rhumi-1: India’s first reusable hybrid rocket, launched from Chennai
● Developed by Space Zone India + Martin Group.
● Mission mentored by Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai (Moon Man of India).
NASA’s Pandora Mission: to study exoplanet atmospheres (2025)
LignoSat: World’s first wooden satellite, developed by Japan’s Kyoto University & Sumitomo

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Forestry; Launched aboard SpaceX Rocket.

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Chinese scientists detected water molecules in lunar samples brought by Chang’e-5 mission
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Fram2 Mission: First human spaceflight by SpaceX to fly over Earth’s polar orbit
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Brown Dwarf: “Failed stars” larger than planets but too small to sustain hydrogen fusion, recently
mapped for weather by James Webb Telescope.
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White Dwarf Star: Dense stellar cores left after stars die, with a mass limit defined by the
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Chandrasekhar limit
Plunging Region: A zone near black holes where matter stops orbiting and falls straight in, confirming
Einstein’s relativity predictions.
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Trojan Asteroid: Asteroids sharing a planet’s orbit at stable Lagrange points ; Discovery of Saturn’s
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Trojan confirms all giant planets have them.

Einstein Ring: A glowing light ring formed by bending light around massive objects like galaxies,
helping scientists study dark matter and the universe.
Accretion Disk: A glowing disk of gas swirling around a black hole, created as the black hole pulls in
nearby matter.
Quipu Superstructure: Recently discovered biggest known structure in the universe, made of galaxies
and clusters stretching 1.3 billion light-years
Jahnavi Dangeti: Will be 1st Indian on Titans Mission in 2029 by Titans Space Industries.
Anil Menon: NASA appointed him to Expedition 75 to International Space Station.
Pakistan’s EO-1 Satellite: Launched by China; Pakistan’s first Earth Observation satellite.
‘Zhangheng 1-02’ satellite- China via Long March-2D to monitor natural disasters.
‘Project Kuiper’ to boost rural broadband by Amazon
GRAIL Mission: NASA; Explained moon’s far-side differences due to ancient volcanism and crust
thickness using Ebb & Flow spacecraft.
Bangladesh became the 54th signatory to the Artemis Accords for peaceful and transparent space
exploration with NASA.
IM-2 (Intuitive Machines)— NASA; to map Moon’s South pole, searching for ice & rare minerals.
Aditya-L1 captured the first-ever image of a solar flare kernel, aiding solar dynamic studies.
NASA developing Quantum Gravity Gradiometer Pathfinder (QGGPF) to map Earth’s gravity
gradient 10x more accurately.
ISRO germinated black-eyed peas (cowpea) aboard CROPS-1 mission, advancing space farming for
astronaut health.

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China set new spacewalk world record (9 hrs) via astronauts Cai Xuzhe & Song Lingdong aboard
Tiangong Space Station.
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Aditya-L1 & Proba-3 to collaborate on solar research from 2025; both focus on studying Sun’s outer
atmosphere.
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Chandrayaan-4 Mission Approved: Budget ₹2,104.6 crore; aims to bring back moon samples; ISRO
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to complete in 36 months.
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WISLP (Women in Space Leadership Programme): Launched by DST & British Council under
UKIERI
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ISRO Missions 2024–25 (Launched):

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● EOS-09 (18 Mar 2025): Failed due to third-stage technical issue.

● NVS-02 (29 Jan 2025): 100th mission of ISRO
● SpaDEx Mission (5 Dec 2024): Tested docking and undocking two satellites
(SDX01 & SDX02).
● ESA Proba-3 (5 Dec 2024): launched by ISRO
● EOS-08 (16 Aug 2024): to design, develop, and test a micro satellite, along with its compatible
payload instruments.
● RLV LEX-03 (28 June 2024): Reusable launch vehicle test; successful autonomous landing.
● INSAT-3DS (8 Feb 2024): Meteorological satellite for weather forecasting.
● XPoSat (1 Jan 2024): India’s first X-ray polarimetry mission for space science.
Upcoming ISRO Missions: Space Vision 2047
● Bhartiya Antriksh Station- first module in 2028 & full station by 2035. An Indian to land on
Moon by 2040 (Indian crewed Mission)
● Gaganyaan 4 - first crewed space flight in 2027 (3 Uncrewed)
● Mangalyaan-2 (2026): Successor to Mars Orbiter Mission for advanced Mars exploration.
● Chandrayan-4 by 2027 to bring lunar samples to Earth.
● LUPEX (2027–2028): Indo–Japan (ISRO-JAXA) lunar mission to explore Moon’s south pole.
● Shukrayaan-1 (2028): India’s first Venus mission to study atmosphere and surface.
● Venus Orbiter Mission(VOM or Sukrayaan) by 2028- study surface, sub-srface, atmosphere &
influence of Sun on Venus.
● Next Generation of Satellite Launch Vehicle (NGLV) by 2032

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