Chennai: It seems that the Indian space agency has changed its mind while naming its launch vehicle. ISRO has chosen the name ‘Pushpak’ for its launch vehicle. For a long time, ISRO has been naming its rockets with names like Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV). Interestingly, the rockets of foreign space agencies have short names, which are easy to remember and brand.
“Even European space agency Arianespace’s rocket Ariane takes its name from the French mythological character Ariadne,” a retired senior ISRO official told IANS on condition of anonymity. He said the names of the Chinese and Russian rockets – Long March and Soyuz respectively – are linked to their ideology and history.
RLV-LEX-02:
The approach and the landing. pic.twitter.com/hI9k86KiBv— ISRO (@isro) March 22, 2024
Interestingly, India’s first sounding rocket was named Rohini. The rocket was built for meteorology and atmospheric studies. Later rockets were given long-winded names based on the orbit where they placed the satellites such as Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (Polar Orbit – PSLV) and GSLV (Geosynchronous Orbit).
India also named its initial satellites after the famous mathematician-astronomer Aryabhata and mathematicians Bhaskara I and Bhaskara II. After some time the thinking inside ISRO changed. The satellites were named according to the purpose for which they were launched and now have a common name.
ISRO has changed the nomenclature of its Earth observation satellites to number 1, 2, 3 and others tagged with EOS. A notable change in nomenclature occurred with the Indian Satellite Navigation System. Initially it was named Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). Ultimately its name was changed to NAVIC – the first three letters from the word Navigation and the first two letters from the word ‘Indian Planetarium’ were taken.
Former ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair had earlier told IANS, “Now is the time to look at our scriptures, culture and come up with a name that reflects the features and power of the new rocket.” The Indian radar imaging satellite RISAT was first proposed to be named ‘Sanjay’ after Sanjaya in the Mahabharata, who had divine vision and informed his blind king Dhritarashtra in the palace about the events taking place on the battlefield. Was.
Tapan Mishra, founding director and chief scientist of Sisir Radar Pvt Ltd, told IANS, “I had proposed to name RISAT ‘Sanjay’ after a character from the Indian epic Mahabharata. However, this idea was rejected.” Mishra was earlier the director of ISRO’s Space Applications Centre. He was the brain behind the Indian Space Agency’s RISAT series of SAR satellites as well as the dual frequency SAR on the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter.
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Tags: ISRO, science news, space
FIRST PUBLISHED: March 22, 2024, 12:55 IST