U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bangalore

U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bangalore is the lead centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) responsible for design, development, assembly & integration of communication, navigation, remote sensing, scientific and small satellite missions. The specialised teams of scientists, engineers and technicians of URSC have built more than 90 complex & advanced satellites for various applications in areas of telecommunications, television broadcasting, VSAT services, tele-medicine, tele-education, navigation, weather forecasting, disaster warning, search and rescue operations, earth observations, natural resource management, scientific and space science etc. With the objective of taking the benefits of space technology to the length & breadth of the society, URSC is actively involved in creating cost-effective space infrastructure for the country.

Evolution of URSC:The establishment of Thumba Equatorial Launching Station (TERLS) in 1963 and the Experimental Satellite Communication Earth Station (ESCES) in 1967 was the prodigious precursors to Space activities in the country. Activities relating to satellite technology started in the right earnest at Satellite Systems Division at Space Science & Technology Centre, Trivandrum in the late sixties. Later when a conscious decision emerged in 1972 to build the first Indian Satellite 'Aryabhata' the scene shifted to Bangalore with the formulation of the Indian Scientific Satellite Project (ISSP). The Indian Institute of Science campus initially housed the project activities until it moved to the industrial sheds at Peenya. It was here that a handful of engineers and technicians fresh from the Universities sowed the first seeds of satellite technology in the country. With practically no prior art existing within the country, and with sparse infrastructure put together from scratch, this young team developed the first Indian Satellite ARYABHATA in the make shift industrial sheds at Peenya, Bangalore. With the success of the ARYABHATA mission, the fledgling space activity soon developed into a full-fledged programme with national priorities. Thus was born the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) in 1976. In 1984 the Centre moved to the present 32 acre campus at Old Airport Road, Vimanapura in Bangalore. To cater to the growing need of satellite for various applications, ISRO Satellite Integration & Testing Establishment (ISITE) was established in 2006 in a 110 acre campus which is about 8 km away from the present campus. ISITE has a large clean room and state-of-the-art electronics fabrication and test facilities under one roof for the assembly, integration and testing of communication satellites.

U R Rao Satellite Centre Old Airport Road, Vimanapura PO, Vimanapura Post Bangalore - 560 017 Website: www.isac.gov.in