The Man Who Actualised The Space Dream Of Billion Of Indians
Vikram Sarabhai, The Man Who Actualised The Space Dream Of Billion Of Indians
Since its inception, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has given every Indian innumerable milestones to be proud of. ISRO was institutionalised in 1969 and since then, it has never failed to achieve its vision to 'harness space technology for national development.
After its establishment, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) set many milestones, but did you know about the young man, who initiated India's space research and helped develop nuclear power in the country.
Today we share an inspiring story of Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai - known as the father of the Indian space program (ISRO). In 1962, Vikram Sarabhai was given Isro's charge and worked for a token salary of one rupee in view of his personal wealth.
Who was Vikram Sarabhai?
One of India's most admired scientists Vikram Sarabhai, in full Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai, was born in Ahmedabad on August 12, 1919. Vikram Sarabhai was born into a family of industrialists. His father Ambalal Sarabhai built Calico Mills, one of Ahmedabad’s oldest textile mills that ran for over a century. The Sarabhai family were committed members of the Quit India Movement against the British Raj. He attended Gujarat College, Ahmadabad, but later shifted to the University of Cambridge, England, where he took his tripos in natural sciences in 1940.
Due to the immense restrictions caused by the Second World War, Sarabhai returned to India, where he undertook research in cosmic rays under physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. In 1945 he returned to Cambridge to pursue a doctorate and wrote a thesis, “Cosmic Ray Investigations in Tropical Latitudes,” in 1947. He founded the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad on his return to India.
Father of the Indian Space Program
Vikram Sarabhai, who initiated India's space research and helped develop nuclear power in the country was a great institution builder and established, or helped to establish, a large number of institutions in diverse fields. Vikram Sarabhai founded the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad on November 11, 1947. He was only 28 at that time. Sarabhai was a creator and cultivator of institutions and PRL was the first step in that direction. Vikram Sarabhai served of PRL from 1966-1971. from 1966-1971.
The range and breadth of Sarabhai’s interests were remarkable and realising the need for professional management education in India, Sarabhai was instrumental in setting up the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Ahmedabad in 1962.
The establishment of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was one of his greatest achievements. Sarabhai successfully convinced the government of the importance of a space programme for a developing country like India after the Russian Sputnik launch (a series of three artificial Earth satellites).
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First rocket launching station in India
Architect of the atomic dream Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha supported Dr. Sarabhai in setting up the first rocket launching station in India. This centre was established at Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram on the coast of the Arabian Sea, primarily because of its proximity to the equator.
After a remarkable effort in setting up the infrastructure, personnel, communication links, and launch pads, the inaugural flight was launched on November 21, 1963, with a sodium vapour payload.
Contribution of Vikram Sarabhai to DRDO
After the death of physicist Homi Bhabha in 1966, Sarabhai was appointed chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India. Carrying forward Bhabha’s work in the field of nuclear research, Sarabhai was largely responsible for the establishment and development of India’s nuclear power plants. He laid the foundations for the indigenous development of nuclear technology for defence purposes.
Four giants of science in one frame:Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Homi Jehangir Bhabha, CV Raman, Vikram Sarabhai | Twitter
As a result of Dr. Sarabhai's dialogue with NASA in 1966, Satellite Instructional Television Experiment or SITE was an experimental satellite communications project launched in India in 1975, designed jointly by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
The project made available informational television programs to rural India. The main objectives of the experiment were to educate the financially backward and academically illiterate people of India on various issues via satellite broadcasting, and also to help India gain technical experience in the field of satellite communications.
How did ISRO come into being?
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is India's national space agency. India has been steadily building its launching and exploration capabilities for decades. Its roots date back to 1962, when India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, enlisted physicist Vikram Sarabhai to set up the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR). Later, INCOSPAR was superseded by ISRO in 1969.
ISRO
The Department of Space was created in 1972 and ISRO became a part of it and remains so to date. The Space Department reports directly to the Prime Minister of the country. During 1975-76, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was conducted which was hailed as 'the largest sociological experiment in the world’.
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The Indian satellite programme began in the 1970s after the success of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) success of the Rohini rocket programme in the 1960s. Reportedly, Vikram Sarabhai, the ISRO's founder appointed a team of scientists and engineers led by space scientist Dr UR Rao to develop the satellite.
Vikram Sarabhai’s legacy
Vikram Sarabhai is remembered as the Father of the Indian Space Program for his contributions to the field of space science. He was awarded two of India’s highest honours, the Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhushan awarded posthumously in 1972.
Vikram Sarabhai and Jawaharlal Nehru | Image courtesy: PRL, Ahmedabad
Vikram Sarabhai’s legacy lives strong today and continues in the Indian space programme and the nuclear programme, both of which focus on indigenous development just as he envisioned.
The lander of India’s Chandrayaan-2, Vikram, was named after him, and so was the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO’s facility for rocket development in Thiruvananthapuram.
A crater on the moon, at Mare Serenitatis or Sea of Serenity, visible to us on the near side, is called the Sarabhai crater
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