ISTRAC Begins Its Golden Jubilee Celebrations In Bengaluru
From Aryabhata to Chandrayaan, Mars Orbiter Mission and the upcoming Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission, ISTRAC has played a pivotal role in every major milestone of India’s space journey: Reports
NELLORE: ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), the vital ground segment arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), celebrated the beginning of its Golden Jubilee Year in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Established on September 6, 1976, ISTRAC has been the backbone of India’s space programme for nearly five decades. Headquartered in Bengaluru, ISTRAC provides the ground segment network for Earth observation, space science, interplanetary missions, and all launch vehicle operations of ISRO.
ISTRAC’s ground stations spread across India and abroad. These manage deep space tracking and space situational awareness, supporting both national and international missions.
From Aryabhata to Chandrayaan, Mars Orbiter Mission and the upcoming Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission, ISTRAC has played a pivotal role in every major milestone of India’s space journey.
Department of Space (DoS) secretary Dr. V. Narayanan, who is also the chairman of ISRO, inaugurated the celebrations in the presence of former ISRO chairmen, former secretaries of DoS, former ISTRAC directors, and Directors of other ISRO centres.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Narayanan lauded ISTRAC as the “silent backbone” of India’s space missions, commending its dedication, innovation and resilience.
He highlighted ISTRAC’s meticulous planning and execution in handling complex missions, including Chandrayaan-1, 2 and 3, the Mars Orbiter Mission, SPADEX (ISRO’s first docking experiment), and the ISRO-NASA Synthetic Aperture Radar Mission, along with tracking support for commercial launches of NSIL (NewSpace India Limited).
Addressing the gathering, former leaders of ISRO and ISTRAC reflected on evolution of the telemetry, tracking and command network from a single station at Sriharikota to a global network with world-class capabilities in mission operations, deep space tracking, and space surveillance.
Coinciding with the start of Golden Jubilee event, Dr. Narayanan inaugurated ISTRAC’s newly designed website “Spandan.” The event saw the release of ISTRAC’s Gold Jubilee logo and a coffee table book showcasing achievements and milestones of the organisation.