National Technology Day observed on May 11

Key facts

• National Technology Day is observed every year on May 11 to commemorate the successful Pokhran-II nuclear tests of May 11, 1998.
• The 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, developed by BHAVINI under the Department of Atomic Energy, reached first criticality in April 2026, making India the second country after Russia to have a commercial-scale fast breeder reactor.
• India became the fourth nation to achieve a soft landing on the Moon and the first to do so near the lunar south pole through the Chandrayaan-3 mission in July 2023.
• Aditya-L1, India's first dedicated solar observatory, was launched in September 2023 and reached its halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L1 point in January 2024.
• The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, launched in July 2025, employs dual L-band and S-band radar to monitor Earth's surface changes.
• The Gaganyaan mission, expected in the first quarter of 2027, aims to send three astronauts (vyomnauts) into low Earth orbit at approximately 400 km for up to three days.
• The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is an indigenous fifth-generation stealth multirole fighter with a prototype rollout targeted for late 2026–2027 and a first flight scheduled for 2028.