Exploration of space has always fascinated the humankind. The exploration began with bare-eye observation of the sky during the pre-telescope era, then came the telescope, and then, one after the other, humankind innovated ways for observing the space with several other techniques. Then came the space era, opening up the opportunity for exploration of the space and celestial objects from the deep space, where there is no intervention of atmosphere, dust, aerosol or cloud. Going to space is not easy; one has to break the barrier of the gravitational binding potential of the Earth. Lots of technology get into the process of accessing the space. The story doesn’t end there; one needs stable orbits for conducting sustained space-based observations, ground stations to communicate the data from space to the Earth, sending commands to space, and lot more. While these technological advances take place, scientists put more demand for innovative ways to explore the space. The ever-lasting quest of the humankind to comprehend the vastness continues to motivate the study of the different facets of space science and technology. I got the opportunity to interact with students of various levels from several schools, colleges and universities. Interacting with them, I felt the need to present to them a holistic view of space science exploration in a systematic way. Otherwise, students feel space science is all about Black Holes! And hence, this booklet. 4 This booklet is composed primarily to generate basic awareness in the young minds about the different facets of space science and exploration, in a systematic manner. The topics addressed in this booklet span a wide spectrum, so as to present the holistic perspective of the subject to the students. Each topic, although deserves discussions at depth and breadth, has been consciously kept to the basic level, in order not to load the reader with the specifics of any particular aspect. It is expected that this booklet will also serve the purpose of making the students aware of the basic components of space science research, and appreciate the cross-disciplinary nature of space exploration, and the importance of system-level thinking, transcending the barriers of the individual subjects they study in their curriculum. This booklet is an original composition of scientific facts, by the author. It contains only academic information, and public domain material, and not any confidential information. Dr. Tirtha Pratim Das Director, Science Programme Office, ISRO Headquarters Place: Bengaluru November, 2023