Indian Space Research Organisation or the Bharatiya Antariksh Anusandhan Sangha is abbreviated as ISRO. It is India`s national space agency, headquartered at Bangalore. Around 20,000 people are employed at Indian Space Research Organisation with a budget of around Rs. 65 billion. The directive of Indian Space Research Organisation is to develop the technologies related to space and their application to the nation`s development. Besides domestic payloads, Indian Space Research Organisation also offers international launch services and lately is launching satellites using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and the GSLV for geo-stationary satellites.

The history of space research in India has its roots in the ancient era. In fact the military use of rockets dates back to the times of Tipu Sultan during the Mysore War. During the British era William Congreve was inspired to discover the Congreve rocket that is the predecessor of modern artillery rockets in 1804. After India gained independence from British occupation in 1947, Indian scientists and politicians recognized the prospective of rocket technology in both defence applications and for research and development.

Dr. Vikram Sarabhai founded the Indian space program and after the launch of Sputnik in 1957. India`s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, placed space research under the jurisdiction of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in 1961. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was created on August 15, 1969 from the INCOSPAR programme under the DAE and continued to work under the Space Commission and finally the Department of Space, shaped in June 1972.

Several satellites have been launched by ISRO. Amongst these the first satellite to be launched was Aryabhatta in 1975 from Kapustin Yar using a Soviet Cosmos-3M launch vehicle. By 1979 the ISRO was ready to launch SLV from the second launch site - Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC). In 1980 the first indigenous satellite launched by India was called Rohini-1. Designing of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was underway and it worked as India`s workhorse launch system. The Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) tested technologies like strap-on boosters and new guidance systems, so that experience could be gained before the PSLV started with full production. Time and again ISRO has proved itself by completing several projects that were designed for the welfare of the nation.

Indian Space Research Organisation has also entered the beneficial market of launching payloads of other nations. Prominent projects among them include the launches of Israel Space Agency`s TecSAR spy satellite, and the Israeli Tauvex-II satellite module. The CARTOSAT-2 was launched on the July 2006 and carried a small Indonesian payload of 56 kg. Indian Space Research Organisation associated itself with Tata motors to develop a prototype hydrogen passenger car for the Indian market. RH-200 - Active and RH-300 - Active are the two sound emitting rockets of Indian Space Research Organisation.

On April 28, 2008 Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched 10 satellites in a single assignment, further enhancing its capabilities in space. These satellites comprised the 690 kg CARTOSAT-2, 83 kg mini Indian satellite, IMS-1, and eight other nano-satellites manufactured by various universities and research and development institutions in Canada and Germany that were offered the Indian Department of Space. Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched its first unmanned moon mission - Chandrayaan-1, positioned on PSLVC11 at 0622 hrs IST on October 22, 2008.

The success of Chandrayaan-1 has encouraged the confidence of Indian Space Research Organisation scientists to look beyond the moon. This organisation has also planned a project called Bhuvan that aims to make the maps publicly available and thus become a competitor of Google Earth. Besides these the organisation has also planned several upcoming projects that include Chandrayaan-2 and the spacecraft, Aditya.

Indian Space Research Organisation operates three launch stations, namely the Shriharikota Rocket Launching Station (Andhra Pradesh), Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (Kerela) and Balasore Rocket Launching Station (Orissa). There are many more related organisations of Indian Space Research Organisation, located all over India.

Some of the important ones are as follows -

Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology – Thiruvananthapuram	National Atmospheric Radar Laboratory – Tirupathi
National Remote Sensing Agency – Hyderabad	Indian Department of Space (IDS)
INSAT Master Control Facility – Bhopal	Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC)
Space Applications Centre – Ahmedabad	Development and Educational Communication Unit (DECU)
ISRO Satellite Centre – Bangalore	Regional Remote Sensing Service Centres (RRSSC)
ISRO Inertial Systems Unit – Thiruvananthapuram	Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC)
Semi-Conductor Laboratory – Chandigarh