India's set to launch satellite No71 - GSAT-7

The launch of GSAT-7, India's first dedicated satellite for maritime communications, will be launched on Friday from the European space consortium, Arianespace, from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana which will be India's 71st satellite developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) since 1975.

However, this is not the first time that the country has attempted anything of this magnitude. Over the years, India has attempted various projects on its own and has been successful, so as to make it less dependent on foreign help and GSAT-7 is just one of them.

Here's a list of some of the various satellite attempts India has made (since 1975):

Aryabhata was India's very first satellite named after the great Indian mathematician of the same name. It was launched from Kapustin Yar, Russia on April 19 1975. The main objective of the satellite was to provide technological experience to the Indian scientists in the field of the satellite system. However due to power failure, the satellite could only orbit the Earth for 96 minutes before all signals were lost.

Bhaskara-I was launched on June 7 1979 from Kapustin Yar, Russia. The objective of this satellite was to collect telemetry data as well as data on oceanography and hydrology.

Rohini Technology Payload was the first of the four experimental satellites launched in the year August 10 1979 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.The objective of this satellite was to monitor the launch vehicle. However, it did not manage to achieve its intended orbit and was partially successful.

Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment (APPLE) was launched on 19 June 1981 from Centre Spatial Guyanais near Kourou in French Guiana. It was the first experimental communication satellite launched by ISRO which was used for nearly two years to carry out extensive experiments on time, frequency and code division multiple access systems, radio networking computer inter connect, random access and pockets witching experiments.

IRS-1A was launched on March 17 1988 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The objective of the satellite was to provide imagery for various land-based applications. The long-term objective of the mission was to develop the indigenous capability in the field of remote sensing. The mission was deactivated on July 1996.

Kalpana-1 (METSAT) was launched on September 12 2002 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The former name of the satellite was METSAT but was later named Kalpana-1 as a tribute to Kalpana Chawla who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was the first meteorological satellite built by ISRO.

EDUSAT or GSAT-3 was launched on September 20 2004 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. It is India’s first educational satellite which was exclusively built to serve the educational sector of the country.

StudSat is a satellite designed by seven Indian students in collaboration with the ISRO. It was launched on July 12 2010 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Its primary objective was to promote space technology in educational institutions and encourage research and development in miniaturised satellites.

IRNSS-1A was launched on 1 July 2013 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Built at a cost of Rs125 crore, Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System-1A is one of the three IRNSS satellites that have been built with the primary objective of providing a system similar to GPS but only for Indian region and the area around it.