ANKUR SHARMA
Top Space Exploration Nations
Since the birth of Human Kind. We always tried to reach moon , sun and grab stars from space. But our journey to space started in 4th Oct, 1957 when Soviets launched the first artificial satellite named Sputnik 1. After that one after another many successful space exploration missions were launched by the Soviet Union and the United States of America. Many other countries also contributed in the exploration and now some of them are among top space exploration countries. Here is the list of world’s top space agencies (space research organizations) of various countries.
1) NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) – USA
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is a space agency of the United States of America . It was established in 1958. NASA has a very important role in the exploration. NASA was the first agency which sent first manned mission on the moon (Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. were the first to reach on the moon). Other successful missions of NASA are:
Project Mercury (1959–63)
The objective of Project Mercury was to send man to space and During this Project first American named Alan Shepard reached their and after that John Glenn became the first american to orbit the Earth.
Project Gemini (1961–66)
During this mission many manned flights were flown to space .The first manned Gemini flight was flown by Gus Grissom and John Young on March 23, 1965.
Project Apollo (1961–72)
Project Apollo was among the most noticeable missions in the history of space exploration. The main objective of Project Apollo was to send first man to moon. In 1969 Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. became the first to reach on the moon.
Skylab (1965–79)
[pullquote]“The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn’t have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don’t have a space program, it’ll serve us right!”[Larry Niven][/pullquote]The objective of this mission was to make a space station. Skylab was the first independent space station built by the USA. The Skylab program was considered as greatest observatory of its time. The program included a micro-gravity lab, a medical lab, an Earth-observing facility.New technologies where also used in this program such as Special showers, toilets, sleeping bags, exercise equipment and kitchen facilities were designed to function in micro-gravity. If we talk about the main objective of this program, it was to study the feasibility of long duration space missions.For today’s students, Skylab is a part of history that took place long before they were born.
Also Read: Things to Know about Mars orbiter mission
Space Shuttle program (1972–2011)
The objective of Space Shuttle Program was to make reusable space vehicles. The first Shuttle sent to space was Columbia on 12th April, 1981.
International Space Station (1993–present)
The objective of this program was to build and maintain Space Station in collaboration with other countries.
Others and MAVEN (latest)
The sky is the limit only for those who aren’t afraid to fly! [Bob Bello]
MAVEN stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, it will be studying the atmosphere of Mars planet while orbiting Mars. MAVEN was launched on 18th of November, 2013. MAVEN will study Mars’ upper atmosphere and its interactions with the solar wind.
Beside these program other mission were also organized by NASA like Beyond Low Earth Orbit program , Commercial Crew Program etc.
Also Read: Top Technologically advanced countries
2) Russian Federal Space Agency – Russia
ROSCOSMOS also known as Russian Federal Space Agency is among the top space agencies of the world however it was established in 1992 after dissolution of the Soviet Union. ROSCOSMOS haven’t worked that much as Soviet Program did in its period. So here are some Projects that were successfully completed by Soviet Space Program:
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite that was sent to space on 4tth Oct, 1957. This sphere shaped satellite had a diameter of 58 cm with four external radio antennae for radio broadcasting.
Sputnik 2
After the launch of Sputnik 1 . Sputnik 2 became the first artificial satellite to send any living thing in space which was a dog named Laika .
Luna Project
Luna 1,2 and 3 were among the first satellites to reach near the moon , impact on moon and get pictures of moon surface.
Sputnik 5
Sputnik 5 was the first probe that bring back animals (dogs named Belka and Strelka) sent to space alive back to earth.
Vostok Programme
Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel space in Vostok 1 and after that many other successful projects of vostok sent first women on space, first dual crew on space etc.
Salyut 1
Salyut 1 was the first space station built by Russia .
Mars Programme
The objective of making mars series of probes was to explore mars . During this project many Mars 2 became the first probe to impact on mars and Mars 3 became the first to land on moon successfully.
Others
Other successful programmes that were operated during soviet era was Buran (Which was space shuttles like NASA had), Mir Space Station, Lunokhod etc.
3) European Space Agency (ESA)
ESA is group of nations working together for space exploration. The members of ESA are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Canada. It was established in 1975 and its head quarter is in Paris, France. ESA has various launch vehicles to launch their satellites in space. Here are some Programmes running by ESA:
Ariane 5
Arianne 5 is the main launch vehicle of ESA and till now has launched 22 successful flights . It s in service since 1997 before Ariane 5 , Ariane 4,3,2,1 were used.
Vega
Vega is a small payload launcher of ESA which is used to send small satellites to space by ESA.
Others
Beside these launch vehicles , ESA also uses Soyuz in collaboration with ROSCOSMOS
4) ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization)
ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) was established by India on 15 august, 1969 and working sincethen . ISRO has made many satellites and payload vehicles for exploration . Some of them are mentioned below:
Launch Vehicles
India has made many launch vehicles since 1969 . SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle ) and ASLV (Augmented Satellite launch Vehicle) were the first launch vehicles made by India. Services of these launch vehicles are discontinued in 1983 and 1994 respectively. Currently India is using PSLV(Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle ) and GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) for sending satellites with 95% of success rate. India is now developing GSLV-III for future requirements.
Update: India is launching various launch vehicles to space to help other countries to launch their satellites. India has recently launch PSLV C-23 on 30th June 2014 having satellites of different nations like France, Canada , Germany, Singapore.
Satellites
India has built many satellites for telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology , navigation, military operations and search-and-rescue needs of India. Some of these are the INSAT (Indian National Satellite System) series, RISAT (Radar Imaging Satellites), IRNSS (for navigation) etc.
Space Exploration
India has also working in the area of exploration and became the first nation to find traces of water on moon through its probe named Chandrayan-1 in 2008. India has also launched Mangalyaan on 5th Nov 2013 for Mars exploration and planing to organize probe launches for Venus , Sun and other near earth objects exploration.
On 24, September 2014 I became the first space research organization to place its satellite in mars orbit in first attempt and 4th country which successfully sent its satellite (Mangalyaan) to mars through its MOM ( Mars Orbiter Mission) . It has mover ISRO one step ahead in worlds Space Research Organizations or Space Agencies.
No comments:
Post a Comment