Question

Which of the following scientists designed the “Aryabhata” satellite?
(A) C V Raman
(B) Vikram A Sarabhai
(C) Homi J Bhabha
(D) None of these

Answer 1

The Aryabhata satellite was India’s first satellite which was launched on $19\;April\;1975$. It was a launch assisted with the help of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Professor U. R. Rao along with other colleagues and distinguished scientists were a part of this vital mammoth task.

Complete step by step solution:
The Aryabhata mission was headed by Prof. U. R. Rao and he was the main person who was instrumental in the designing of the satellite along with other members of the project team. Although initially intended to be launched by the American Scout launch vehicle, it was launched from Kapustin Yar, a Russian rocket launch and development site in the Astrakhan Oblast using a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle. The primary objectives of the Aryabhata mission as explained by Professor U. R. Rao in a paper were:
1. Indigenous design and fabrication of a space-worthy system and evaluation of its performance in orbit;
2. Evolving a methodology of conducting a series of the complex operation on the satellite in its operational phase;
3. Setting up the necessary ground-based receiving, transmitting and tracking systems; and
Establishing the relevant infrastructure for the fabrication testing and qualification of such sophisticated spacecraft systems.
The payloads included:
1. X-Ray Astronomy
2. Aeronomy
3. Solar Neutron and Gamma Rays studies

The correct answer is option (D) None of these.

Note: In the making of a budget for the mission, a team of four engineers and scientists was constituted which included S.P. Kosta, K. Kasturirangan, Ashiya and Tarsem Singh. They together estimated the cost of the project to be $Rs.\;60\;lakh$. Prof. U. R. Rao increased this to $Rs.\;3\;crore$.