ISRO Satellite Centre gets New Facilities

ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), the lead centre of ISRO for development of satellite technology, has added a new facility, ISRO Satellite Integration and Testing Establishment (ISITE). This was inaugurated by Mr M K Narayanan, National Security Advisor, on April 17, 2006. Mr G Madhavan Nair, Secretary, Department of Space/Chairman, ISRO, presided over the inaugural function.

Main building of ISITE

The genesis of ISAC can be traced to the formation of Indo-Soviet Satellite Project in 1972 which later became the Indian Scientific Satellite (Aryabhata) Project. India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, was built in the industrial sheds of Peenya in Bangalore. Soon after the successful launch of Aryabhata on April 19, 1975, ISRO Satellite Centre was formed to build Indian satellites starting with experimental satellites like Bhaskara-1 and Bhaskara-2, APPLE and Rohini satellites which were all built at the Peenya industrial sheds.

In 1984, ISAC was shifted to its present campus on Airport Road where operational satellites like the Indian Remote sensing (IRS) satellites and INSATs were built. Over the years, sophisticated facilities needed for building and testing satellites have been added and today some of these facilities have very few parallels in Asia. Laboratory for Electro-Optic Systems (LEOS) as well as ISRO Radar Development Unit (ISRAD) have also been set up in Peenya
which work under the overall umbrella of ISAC.

Vibration Test Facility

ISAC has designed and built 39 satellites so far. Seventeen of them are in service at present (seven for remote sensing, eight for communications, one for meteorology and a small satellite HAMSAT for ameature radio). ISITE, spread over 100 acres of land, will help in increasing the number of satellites to be built by ISAC in the coming years as well as to build bigger and more advanced satellites.

6.5 metre Thermovac Chamber

Major facilities already established include Compact Antenna Test Facility, Thermo-vac, Vibration Test Facility and Assembly, Integration and Test Facility.

Facilities under construction include Scientific Satellite Instrumentation Facility (SSIF), buildings for productionisation activities and laboratory for scientific payloads.