Current Affairs - Jan 2026 Space & Technology Review

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the key milestones, launch vehicles, orbits, and current scientific missions of ISRO and the Indian Department of Space as of January 2026.

INCOSPAR

The Indian National Committee for Space Research, formed in 1962 under the Department of Atomic Energy.

Syncom-3

A satellite launched by NASA in 1964 that enabled the first live international television broadcast of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

ISRO Establishment

The Indian Space Research Organisation was officially established in 1969, superseding INCOSPAR.

SITE (Satellite Instructional Television Experiment)

A program conducted in 1975–1976 that used satellites to broadcast educational television to rural Indian villages.

PSLV-D2

The first fully successful flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on October 15, 1994, which injected the IRS-P2 satellite into orbit.

LEO (Low Earth Orbit)

An orbit situated between $160\,\text{km}$ and $2,000\,\text{km}$ above Earth's surface, used for the ISS and observation satellites.

GEO (Geostationary Orbit)

An orbit at approximately $35,786\,\text{km}$ above the equator where satellites move in sync with Earth's rotation.

Lagrangian Points ($L1$ – $L5$)

Specific points in space where the gravitational pull of two large bodies equals the force required for a small object to move with them.

Perigee

The point in an orbit that is closest to the Earth.

Apogee

The point in an orbit that is farthest from the Earth.

SLV-3 (Satellite Launch Vehicle-3)

India's first experimental and indigenous launch vehicle used in the 1980s, capable of placing a $40\,\text{kg}$ payload into LEO.

PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)

India’s third-generation launcher, known as the ‘workhorse,’ featuring four stages and being the first to include liquid stages.

LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-3)

Formerly GSLV Mk III, India’s heaviest operational launcher, featuring $S200$ solid boosters and a $C25$ cryogenic upper stage.

SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle)

A 3-stage launch vehicle with three solid propulsion stages and a liquid-based Velocity Trimming Module ($VTM$) as the terminal stage.

Scramjet Engine-TD

A technology demonstrator that uses hydrogen as fuel and extracts oxygen directly from atmospheric air as its oxidizer.

NGLV (Next Generation Launch Vehicle)

ISRO’s upcoming three-stage, partially reusable heavy-lift vehicle designed to carry up to $30\,\text{tonnes}$ to LEO.

Aryabhata

India’s first satellite, launched on 19 April 1975 from Kapustin Yar (USSR) using a Soviet rocket.

NavIC (IRNSS)

India's independent regional navigation satellite system providing accurate positioning across India and $1,500\,\text{km}$ beyond.

SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment)

ISRO’s technology demonstrator mission to validate in-space rendezvous, docking, and undocking using two small spacecraft.

Aditya-L1

India’s first space-based solar observatory, launched in 2023 and positioned in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth $L1$ point.

NISAR

A joint NASA-ISRO Earth observation satellite mission featuring dual-frequency radar systems (L-band and S-band).

Samudrayaan Mission

An Indian mission aimed at developing a manned submersible, MATSYA 6000, to carry three humans to a depth of $6,000\,\text{meters}$.

LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration)

Also known as Chandrayaan-5, a joint ISRO-JAXA mission to investigate water resources in the Moon's south polar region.

XPoSat

The world’s second dedicated polarimetry observatory, launched by India to study the polarization of X-rays from celestial sources.

GSAT-N2 (GSAT-20)

A high-throughput communication satellite developed for NSIL, launched using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Gaganyaan

India’s first human spaceflight program aiming to launch a crew of three astronauts to a $400\,\text{km}$ LEO for three days.

Shukrayaan-1

The planned Venus Orbiter Mission ($VOM$) intended to be India’s maiden interplanetary mission to Venus.

Agnibaan SOrTeD

A suborbital demonstrator by Agnikul Cosmos featuring the world’s first single-piece, 3D-printed semi-cryogenic engine called ‘Agnilet.’

VIKRAM 3201

The first fully ‘Make-in-India’ 32-bit microprocessor designed for launch vehicles.

DHRUV64

India's first indigenous $1.0\,\text{GHz}$ 64-bit dual-core RISC-V microprocessor developed by C-DAC.

IN-SPACe

The single-window, autonomous regulatory agency established in 2020 to authorize and oversee space activities for NGEs.

DFSM (Debris-Free Space Mission)

An ISRO initiative aiming to achieve zero debris creation for all Indian space missions by the year 2030.

Project NETRA

An indigenous Space Situational Awareness ($SSA$) initiative to detect, track, and catalog space debris to safeguard space assets.

Genome India Project

A DBT initiative launched in 2020 to map India’s genetic diversity, aiming to sequence $10,000$ whole genomes.

BharatGen AI

The first government-funded, homegrown multimodal large language model in India, launched in June 2025.

Apollo 11

The mission that achieved the first crewed Moon landing on July 20, 1969, led by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

OSIRIS-REx

NASA’s first U.S. asteroid sample-return mission, which collected approximately $250\,\text{g}$ of material from the asteroid Bennu.