Bhaskara-I and Bhaskara-II

Four years after Aryabhata, India built a satellite that actually looked down at itself. Bhaskara-I and its successor gave India its first real eyes on its own land, water, and weather, from orbit.

India’s First Eyes in Orbit

SciTech0125

1975

Aryabhata Launched

India’s very first satellite

7 Jun 1979

Bhaskara-I Launched

First Earth-observation satellite

20 Nov 1981

Bhaskara-II Launched

Polar orbit, ~565 km

Following Years

Legacy: the IRS Series

India’s Remote Sensing satellites

Named for mathematicians: Bhaskara-I and II honour Bhaskara I and II, ancient Indian astronomers and mathematicians.

⬇ Download as image

Timeline

• 1975: Aryabhata, India’s first satellite, is launched, laying the groundwork for India’s satellite programme.
• 7 June 1979: Bhaskara-I is launched, India’s first satellite built specifically for Earth observation.
• 20 November 1981: Bhaskara-II is launched, into a polar orbit around 565 km up.
• Following years: The Bhaskara programme’s remote-sensing experience feeds directly into India’s later Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite series.

Must Know

• Bhaskara-I, launched on 7 June 1979, was India’s first low-orbit satellite built specifically for Earth observation and remote sensing.
• Bhaskara-II, its successor, was launched on 20 November 1981. It carried out similar remote-sensing work over a two-year mission.
• Both satellites weighed around 444 kg. Both were launched by the Soviet Union, through its Intercosmos programme, from the Kapustin Yar site.
• Each satellite carried two television cameras, working in visible and near-infrared light, to observe land, water, and forest cover.
• The satellites are named after Bhaskara I and Bhaskara II, ancient Indian mathematicians and astronomers.

Good to Know

• Bhaskara-I also carried the Satellite Microwave Radiometer (SAMIR). This instrument gathered data on oceanic and atmospheric conditions, including water vapour and cloud cover.
• Bhaskara-II added a solid-state imaging system, improving on Bhaskara-I’s camera setup for capturing Earth’s surface.
• Both satellites focused on practical applications: monitoring agricultural land, forests, water bodies, and broader environmental change across India.
• U.R. Rao, the first director of what is now the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, oversaw both Bhaskara missions. He was responsible for 18 of India’s early satellites in total, including Aryabhata, APPLE, INSAT, and the IRS series.
• The mathematician Bhaskara II, who lived in the 12th century, is best known for works like the Lilavati and Siddhanta Shiromani, foundational texts in Indian mathematics and astronomy.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. Bhaskara-I, India’s first low-orbit Earth observation satellite, was launched on which date?

7 June 1979

19 April 1975

20 November 1981

15 August 1980

 Loading…

 

Great to Know

• Bhaskara-I and Bhaskara-II were part of a much larger body of work led by one scientist. See SciTech0076 — U.R. Rao: Father of India’s Satellite Programme for the fuller story behind the man who oversaw both missions.
• Naming a satellite after a mathematician is a small but deliberate choice. It tied India’s very first steps into remote sensing to a much older, homegrown tradition of scientific achievement.