Specialised Establishments Operating Under DRDO

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development. DRDO is the R&D wing of Ministry of Defence, Govt of India, with a vision to empower India with cutting-edge defence technologies and a mission to achieve self-reliance in critical defence technologies and systems.

It was founded in 1958. Avinash Chander is an Indian scientist who was Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, was the founder of DRDO.

DRDO mission is to empower the nation with state-of-the-art indigenous Defence technologies and systems.

DRDO has network of 52 laboratories and is India's largest and most diverse research organisation. Following are the specialised establishments operate under DRDO.

• Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC): Specialised in the development of satellite launch vehicles and sounding rockets.

• ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC): The lead centre for satellite development, covering structures, thermal systems, spacecraft mechanisms, power systems and satellite integration.

• Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC)-SHAR: Sriharikota Space Centre:India's prime launching pad facility, providing the launch infrastructure as well as solid propellant processing and their testing. A second launch pad has been recently built at SDSC-SHAR.

• Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC): The lead centre in the area of liquid and cryogenic propulsion for launch vehicles and satellites.

• Space Applications Centre (SAC): Specialised in the development of payloads for communication, meterological and remote sensing satellites; it conducts space applications research and development.

• ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC): It provides mission support to Low- Earth orbit satellites and to launch vehicle missions.

• Master Control Facility (MCF) : The monitoring and control centre for the geostationary satellites.

• ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU): Carries out research and development in inertial sensors and systems and allied satellite elements.

• National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA): An autonomous institution supported by DOS, it is responsible for acquisition, processing and distribution of data from remote sensing satellites, based in Hyderabad.

More details can be found at Wikipedia