Context:

A customized My Stamp on India’s First Anti Satellite Missile (A-SAT) was launched on the occasion of Engineers Day on September 15.

About:

• ‘My Stamp’ was fi rst introduced in India during the World Philatelic Exhibition, ‘INDIPEX-2011’.
• My Stamp is the brand name for personalized sheets of Postage Stamps of India Post.
• The release of Stamp reminds the nation about the technological achievement, which has made the nation proud.
• The stamp was released by the Department of Posts.

Department of Posts

• The Department of Posts, trading as India Post, is a government-operated postal system in India, which is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Communications.
• Generally called “the Post Offi ce” in India, it also acts as an agent for the Government of India in discharging other services for citizens such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage disbursement and old age pension payments.

Mission Shakti (Anti Satellite Weapon)

• Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted an Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) missile test ‘Mission Shakti’ from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha in 2019.
• DRDO developed A-SAT Missile successfully engaged an Indian orbiting target satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in a ‘Hit to Kill’ mode.
• The interceptor missile was a three-stage missile with two solid rocket boosters.  Tracking data from range sensors had confi rmed that the mission met all its objectives. The entire effort was indigenous which demonstrated the Nation’s capability to develop such complex and critical missions.
• With this success, India became the fourth nation in the world to possess such capability. Till now, only the US, Russia, and China had the capability to hit a live target in space.