Aryabhata, is the first unmanned Earth satellite built by
India. It was named for a prominent Indian astronomer and
mathematician of the 5th century CE. The satellite was assembled at Peenya, near
Bangalore, but was launched from within the Soviet
Union by a Russian-made rocket on April
19, 1975. Aryabhata weighed 794 pounds (360 kg) and was instrumented to
explore conditions in Earth’s ionosphere, measure neutrons and gamma rays from
the Sun, and
perform investigations inX-ray astronomy. The scientific instruments had to be
switched off during the fifth day in orbit because of a failure in the
satellite’s electrical power system. Useful information, nevertheless, was
collected during the five days of operation.
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