Operator ISRO Mission type Astrophysics Satellite of Earth Launch date 19 April 1975 Carrier rocket Cosmos-3M COSPAR ID 1975-033A Mass 360.0 kg Power 46 W from solar panels Orbital elements Regime LEO Inclination 50.7º Apoapsis 619 kilometres (385 mi) Periapsis 563 kilometres (350 mi) Orbital period 96 minutes [edit] [edit] [edit] [show] V· T· E [show] V· T· E From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the first Indian satellite . For
the astronomer, see Aryabhata. Aryabhata was India's first satellite, named after the great Indian astronomer of the same name.[1] It was launched by the Soviet Union on 19 April 1975 from Kapustin Yar using a Cosmos-3M launch vehicle. It was built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to gain experience in building and operating a satellite in space.[2] The 96.3 minute orbit had an apogee of 619 km
and a perigee of 563 km, at an inclination of
50.7 degrees. It was built to conduct experiments
in X-ray astronomy, aeronomics, and solar
physics. The spacecraft was a 26-sided polygon
1.4 m in diameter. All faces (except the top and bottom) were covered with solar cells. A power
failure halted experiments after 4 days in orbit. All
signals from the spacecraft were lost after 5 days
of operation. The satellite reentered the Earth's
atmosphere on 11 February 1992. The satellite's
image appeared on the reverse of Indian 2 rupee banknotes between 1976 and 1997 (Pick catalog and one rupee note number: P-79a-m).[3]