ISRO is actively involved in various research domains with many opportunities for researchers and students to work with experts in cutting areas of sciences. The research domains of ISRO centres significantly contributing in scientific research are briefly provided here.

• Physical Research Laboratory

PRL is one of the premier science laboratories of the country conducting cutting-edge research in many domains of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Solar Physics , Space and Atmospheric Sciences, Atomic , Molecular, and Optical Physics, Geosciences , Planetary Sciences, and Theoretical Physics. PRL is broadly tasked with harnessing space technology for carrying out targeted scientific research, including instrument design , as well as payload development for scientific exploration using space-based platforms. PRL also actively contributes to capacity building and human resource development in the form of research programs/projects, including those leading towards Ph.D.degrees, in the fields of science and engineering. PRL has four campuses, the main campus at Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, and the others at Thaltej, Ahmedabad, the infrared Observatory in Mt. Abu , and the Udaipur Solar Observatory in Udaipur.


Science at PRL

• Space Physics Laboratory

TheSpace Physics Laboratory (SPL) is a premier national laboratory of VSSC/ISROfocusing on atmospheric, space and planetary science research. It aims at improving the scientific understanding on the energetics, dynamics and chemistry of the terrestrial and planetary environments and its implications to the society. The genesis of SPL is closely entwined with the evolution of space sciences and space research in India and dates back to more than five decades. In 1963, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, with the support of Dr. Homi J Bhabha, established the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) over the magnetic dip equator, in which SPL made a humble beginning as Space Physics Division (SPD) in 1968 to study the unique equatorial upper atmospheric phenomena. In 1984, the SPD has been elevated to SPL with the mandate to carry out advanced research in atmospheric, space and planetary sciences. Since then, SPL has traveled a long way expanding its horizon and has attained the status of a vibrant academic institution of international repute having front ranking research areas and problems covering the whole gamut of atmospheric, space and planetary sciences. SPL has a vibrant Research Fellows’ Program to support the capacity building. In addition, SPL interacts/ collaborates very closely with the academia and other research institutions in India and abroad for scientific pursuits.


Space Physics Laboratory

• National Atmospheric Research Laboratory

National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), located at Gadanki near Tirupati, is an autonomous organization engaged in cutting edge research in atmospheric and space sciences with the vision of “Developing capability to predict the behavior of the earth’s atmosphere through observations and modelling”. Towards realizing this vision, NARL gives equal emphasis to technology development, observations, data archival and dissemination, data assimilation and modelling. The research and development activities at NARL focus on radio and optical remote sensing instruments, ionosphere and space physics, atmospheric structure and dynamics, clouds and precipitating systems, climate change, aerosols, radiation, trace gases and weather forecasting. NARL has a peta-scale high-performance computing system for improving numerical weather prediction and an efficient and user-friendly data centre for data acquisition, storage and dissemination to user scientists. NARL provides high-resolution upper air winds and weather forecast in support of rocket launches from SDSC, SHAR. NARL has a vibrant research program, capacity building and public outreach activity. NARL provides necessary experimental and computational facilities to atmospheric science community, both national and international, for conducting research and also disseminates the existing data.


National Atmospheric Research Laboratory

• U R Rao Satellite Centre

U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru formerly known as ISRO Satellite Centre is the lead Centre for design, development, realization of communication, navigation, remote sensing, scientific and small satellite missions. The Centre is actively involved in space science and planetary research activities since its inception. The Space Astronomy Group (SAG) team at URSC is the nodal team which is involved in optical, X-ray and gamma-ray research with a strong emphasis on design and development of novel instrument concepts for space-based as well as ground payloads/facility. SAG is also involved in the analysis and interpretation of existing astronomical data from space- and ground-based facilities around the world. Extensive research is being carried out using observational data from ISRO’s AstroSat observatory and Chandryaan-2 mission. Analysis of the data from the International Space Observatories is also pursued. In addition, Monte Carlo simulation tools are used for optimization of various system performance parameters such as detector sensitivity and response, estimation of expected background and complementing ground calibration activities.

Space Astronomy at URSC

• Space Applications Centre (SAC),

Space Applications Centre is a major research and development centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It plays a key role in realizing vision and mission of ISRO. Located at Ahmedabad, SAC is spread across two campuses having multi-disciplinary activities.

The core competence of the centre lies in development of space borne and air borne instruments/payloads and their applications for national development and societal benefits. These applications are in diverse areas and primarily meet the communication, navigation and remote sensing needs of the country. Besides these, the centre also contributes significantly in scientific and planetary missions of ISRO like Chandrayan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission, Astrosat etc.

The facilities at SAC includes highly sophisticated payload integration laboratories, electronic and mechanical fabrication facilities, environmental test facilities, systems reliability/assurance group, image processing and analysis facilities. SAC has active collaborations with industry, academia, national and international institutes for research and development.