Golden Jubilee Kick-off on Jan 03, 2022:

A Yearlong Golden Jubilee Celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of ISSP was taken up in a big way in the Centre. As part of the golden jubilee celebrations a plethora of events were planned by the committees throughout the year in several sessions noting the COVID-19 guidelines and protocols laid down by the Government time to time.

The Inauguration of the Golden Jubilee Celebration was organized on January 03, 2022 in Satish Dhawan Auditorium, URSC. Dr K Sivan, Former Chairman, ISRO/Secretary, DOS presided over the programme and delivered the inaugural address. Dr K Kasturirangan, Former Chairman, ISRO/ Honorary Distinguished Advisor, ISRO graced the occasion as Chief Guest and delivered the Key-note address in the presence of Shri M Sankaran, Director, URSC. A curtain raiser video depicting URSC’s eventful journey of 50 years was released during the function. Golden Jubilee Celebration Logo of URSC was unveiled by Dr K Sivan and URSC digital calendar was released by Dr K Kasturirangan during the Inaugural function. The event was attended by Directors of other ISRO Centre through virtual mode. As part of the inauguration, a session on “Reminiscences from former Senior Executives of ISRO” was also organized.

Driven with the objective of capturing the genesis and evolution of satellite technology over the past 5 decades, various sessions were held with distinguished panelists in the Centre. The eminent panelists shared their experiences, challenges, lesson learnt, best practices as well as viewpoints on future opportunities and roadmap. Interactive and enlightening panel discussions were held on topics such as “Integrating a Spacecraft - A Multifaceted Task”, “Women making valuable contribution to Space”, “The Marvel of Satellite Mechanical Systems” and “Satellite Making: A Techno-Managerial Challenge” during sessions held on April 8, 2022 and April 27, 2022. The panel discussions were well attended by a good number of participants in off-line and virtual mode.

• URSC Curtain Raiser

Golden Jubilee Celebrations at URSC during May 09-11, 2022:

A special function was organised on Monday, May 09, 2022 at Satish Dhawan Auditorium, URSC. Shri. S Somanath Secretary, DOS/Chairman, ISRO presided over the function and Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to GOI graced the occasion as the Chief Guest for the function. Shri. M Sankaran, Director, URSC welcomed the dignitaries and URSC community to the function. He briefly touched upon the evolution and 50 years remarkable Odyssey of the Centre from Aryabhatta to till date.

As a part of this event, the dignitaries released the Golden Jubilee Souvenir and video depicting Journey of the Centre.

During the forenoon session of May 09, 2022, Assembly Integration Test facility-1(AITF-1) Extension at ISITE (ISRO Satellite Integration & Testing Establishment) Campus was inaugurated by Secretary, DOS/Chairman, ISRO in presence of Shri Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to GOI.

A panel discussion on “Challenges in Governing the Satellite Centre” by former executives of URSC was organized by the Event Management Committee on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at Satish Dhawan Auditorium, URSC.

On May 11, 2022, the third day of the celebration, reminiscence by former Directors of URSC who spearheaded the transformation of the Indian Satellite Programme and steered the progress and growth of URSC was organized. Dr. K Kasturirangan, (1990 -1994), Dr P S Goel (1997-2005) and Dr T K Alex (2008-2012) participated in the session. On this important occasion, URSC respectfully remembered Prof U R Rao, its founding director, former Chairman, and, the architect of satellite technology in the country. The specific role of Prof U R Rao in laying a strong foundation for URSC to grow in its stature was reminisced by the former Directors. Recalling the history of the formation of ISSP, discussions spun the transformation of URSC from its modest beginning in the Industrial shed of Peenya to a full-fledged and vibrant Satellite Centre today over the nostalgic fifty years. Developing a strong learning culture and creating a knowledge base with the active participation of Youngsters from the organization was emphasized.

Following this, the celebrations continued with various events like Domain specific panel discussions with the participation of former ISACians / URSCians sharing their experiences, valuable lessons and evolution of the centre across all domains in the centre as organised by URSC Golden Jubilee Celebration organising committee.

Sports Events:

Sports events were also organised promoting work life Balance. The Golden Jubilee sports events were inaugurated by Chairman, ISRO on May 30, 2022. 12 Nos of Sports events viz., Shuttle Badminton, Hockey, Volleyball, Tabletennis, Ballbadminton, Athletics, Cricket, Kabbadi, Basketball, Lawn Tennis, Tennikoit and Football were organised from March 21. 2022 to August 10, 2022. The spirit of URSCians were high with many youngsters participating and making the Sports event a grand success. A Total of 534 Prizes (160 Gold, 160 Silver, 150 Bronze, 30 Player of match,3 Overall winning /runner trophies) were distributed on September 07, 2022. In continuation of this Area level and Group level panel discussions were held including LEOS. The panel discussions not only served as a knowledge sharing platform but was also a home coming for many former URSCians filled with emotions. Attachment and Links to be provided for

• URSC Journey Video

Golden Jubilee Celebrations held on September 14, 2022:

U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) celebrated Golden Jubilee Celebrations in a befitting manner on September 14, 2022, commemorating the journey of 50 Years of formation of ISSP in 1972 in the esteem presence of Current and all Former Chairmen of ISRO.

The celebrations began with the unveiling of Bust of Prof U R Rao by Dr K Kasturirangan followed by the inauguration of an Exhibition showcasing Technology Advances of Satellite related Technologies by Dr K Radhakrishnan. Sri M Sankaran, Director, URSC welcomed the dignitaries and URSC community for the function. The function was presided over by Sri S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO / Secretary, DOS who released the Golden Jubilee Memento. During the function, Coffee Table Book portraying the journey of the centre was released by Sri A S Kiran Kumar and Kannada Pocket Booklets on ISRO, Space Science and related topics for public outreach were released by Dr K Sivan. Dr G Madhavan Nair graced the occasion by his virtual participation. Former Chairmen of ISRO took the audience through the nostalgic journey of their memories with the centre. Centre Directors of ISRO centres and Distinguished Invitees, Industry and Academia representatives also participated in the memorable event.

During the event, Video capsules on Glimpses of Golden Jubilee Celebrations in the centre from Jan 2022 to Sep 2022 was showcased. Further, the journey of the centre and the achievements of the centre with respect to the realisation of 100+ Satellites in the past five decades were captured chronologically starting from 1972 to till date was showcased.

Subsequently, presentations on URSC Research and Outreach activities and URSC Indigenisation activities over the years were presented by Shri. Jasvinder Singh Khoral, Programme Director, GEO- Platform and Group Director, HMC & Indigenisation Group respectively.

The function culminated with a Panel discussion on “Challenges and Future Directions”. Sri Mihir Kanti Mishra, CEO, HAL, Dr.Abhay A Pashikar, Director, CSIR-NAL and Prof. Pradip Dutta, IISc, Sri S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO were the panellists and Sri M Sankaran, Director, URSC Moderated the Panel Discussion.

The Celebrations was concluded with Vote of Thanks to all the Invitees, Organising Committee members, Supporting teams and to all participants.

• URSC Panel discussions
• URSC Milestones