India has developed a two-layered ballistic missile defence system to counter enemy missiles. It has been configured with radars for long-range surveillance, tracking, command, control, communication and interception to destroy enemy ballistic missiles. The two-layered system, comprising "exo" and "endo" atmospheric interceptors, destroys incoming ballistic missiles at altitudes above 40 km and below 25 km, respectively. The exo-atmospheric interception was successfully tried on November 27 at an altitude of 48 km while the endo-atmospheric high supersonic missile (also called as AAD) was successfully put on trial in the first week of December.

Another trial demonstrating the interception of a live ballistic missile was held on December 6 at an island near Orissa. The interceptors were developed at the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) in Bangalore at a cost of Rs.2,000 crore. Source: The Hindu

Flight test of the air version of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile will be conducted in 2009, Chief Executive and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace, New Delhi, and Chief Controller (Research and Development), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) A. Sivathanu Pillai said on Thursday. Induction of the BrahMos missile in the Army and Navy is under progress and the production capability would be enhanced to beyond 100 units a year if the need arises owing to the interest evinced by about 10 countries including developed nations, Dr. Pillai said responding to queries from media persons. No decision has been taken so far to sell the missile to other countries.

Creation of excellent laboratory facilities would obviate the need for scientists to go abroad for research, he said, suggesting that the NIT-T take the initiative to upgrade its Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering into a Centre of Excellence with support from the DRDO and the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad.

The DRDO with four research boards and grant-in aid scheme has tie-ups with 200 institutions in the country, Dr. Pillai said.

Source: The Hindu

Indian space programme witnessed several major accomplishments and scaled newer heights in mastering space technology during the year. It is significant to note that the remarkable successes were the result of well-orchestrated programmes undertaken by the department aimed at achieving total self-reliance in this cutting edge technology solely through indigenous efforts and utilizing the expertise available within the organization.

Some of the recent, important developments, were the successful orbiting and recovery of a space capsule from the Indian soil using our own launch vehicle, launching of the state of the art remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2 with better than one meter resolution, launching of a satellite exclusively for an European customer under a commercial contract, successful ground testing of indigenously developed cryogenic upper stage and fabrication and installation of a large antenna for providing tracking and command support for deep space missions in general and Chandrayaan-I, India`s first un-manned lunar mission in particular.

Launch Vehicle Programmes: The launching of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) on January 10, 2007 carrying our own 680 kg remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2, 56 kg LAPAN-TUBSAT satellite from Indonesia, 6 kg Pehuensat from Argentina and 550 kg Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) aimed at establishing India`s capability to orbit and bring back to earth successfully heralded a new era in the launch vehicle and satellite technology development in the country.

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F04) was launched successfully on September 2, 2007 carrying INSAT-4CR into the desired orbit. The launch of GSLV-F04 was significant as the previous flight GSLV-D3 had failed to accomplish the mission owing to a fabrication anomaly. The detailed failure analysis carried out established that the design of GSLV is robust and certain strict quality control measures needs to be enforced during fabrication and inspection.

Satellite Programes: The launching of the state of the art remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2 twelfth in the IRS series of satellites will provide panchromatic imageries with a

Societal Applications: The services offered by INSAT Satellites in the area of tele-education and tele-medicine received further impetus. Today, in tune with the dreams of Dr Vikram A Sarabhai, the founding father of the Indian Space Programme, Edusat satellite network has about 30,000 class rooms connected to various academic institutions and universities. Tele-medicine network facilities expanded further and about 223 hospitals and 41 super speciality hospitals are connected providing health care to citizens especially in rural areas to about 3,00,000 patients per year.

Combining the services from INSAT and Indian Remote Satellites, a new concept namely Village Resource Centre (VRC) has been operationalised. VRCs provide tele-medicine, tele-education, adult education, health and family welfare programmes. About 300 VRCs have been established in various states in the country.

Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology: Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) was inaugurated on September 14, 2007 with the objective of offering high quality education in space science and technology to meet the growing demands of the Indian Space Programme. The Institute offers Bachelors degree in Space Technology with specialization in avionics, and aerospace engineering as well as Integrated Masters degree in applied sciences with special emphasis on space related subjects. The Institute started from the current academic year and 140 students from various parts of the country have enrolled for under graduate and masters courses.

The space programme in the country is poised for several major breakthroughs in the development of advanced technology needed for realization of the future launch vehicle and spacecraft missions in the coming years.

Efforts to establish necessary infrastructure for casting large boosters, liquid propellant engines, heavy cryo boosters and for development of advanced missions in the area of remote sensing, communications, navigational satellites and space science systems. Necessary ground infrastructure for providing mission support during launch phase and in orbit support for the planned missions is under realization.