About 15 years ago, Chandrayaan-1 discovered water on the moon. Today, beyond its own further missions like Chandrayaan-3, Isro is also fostering India's fledgling space tech startups
Isro’s Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3) M4 rocket carrying Chandrayaan-3 lifts off from the launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on July 14, 2023
Image: Courtesy ISRO
Fifteen years ago, in April 2009, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) launched its first radar imaging satellite, the RISAT-2. While the numbering suggests an earlier RISAT-1, that satellite was launched later in 2012.
One of the immediate reasons for this was the urgent need for greater all-weather surveillance from space after the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008.
(This story appears in the 31 May, 2024 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)