News Highlight
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will attempt the 200th consecutively successful launch of the Rohini RH200 sounding rocket from Thumba.
Key takeaway
- The series of sounding rockets are called the Rohini series, with RH 200, RH 300 and RH 560 being the most important among them.
Sounding rocket
- About
- Sounding rockets are one or two-stage solid propellant rockets used for probing the upper atmospheric regions and for space research.
- They also serve as easily affordable platforms to test or prove prototypes of new components or subsystems intended for use in launch vehicles and satellites.
- The rockets are used to launch instruments from 48 to 145 km above the surface of the Earth.
- History
- The launch of the first sounding rocket (American Nike-Apache) from Thumba in 1963 marked the beginning of the Indian Space Programme and was the bedrock of all the vehicles built.
- ISRO began with the launch of indigenously built sounding rockets in 1965. Then, the ISRO launched its own version – Rohini RH-75 – in 1967.
- In 1975, all sounding rocket activities were cluttered under the Rohini Sounding Rocket (RSR) Programme.
RH-200
- About
- RH-200 is a two-stage rocket capable of climbing to a height of 70 km bearing scientific payloads.
- Purpose
- It is 3.5-metre-tall and is used by the ISRO for atmospheric studies.
- Features
- Solid motors power the first and second stages of RH-200.
- The RH-200 rocket used a polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-based propellant.
- The ‘200’ in the name denotes the rocket’s diameter in mm.
Rohini (Rocket family)
- About
- Rohini is a series of sounding rockets developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for meteorological and atmospheric study.
- Features
- These sounding rockets are capable of carrying payloads of 2 to 200 kilograms between altitudes of 100 to 500 kms.
- Series
- The ISRO currently uses RH-200, RH-300, RH-300 Mk-II, RH-560 Mk-II and RH-560 Mk-III rockets, which are launched from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching (TERLS) in Thumba and the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.
ISRO(Indian Space Research Organisation)
- About
- ISRO is the national space agency of India. It is headquartered in Bangalore.
- It is India’s primary agency for doing tasks related to space-based applications, the development of the latest technologies, and space exploration.
- Foundation
- Indian Space Research Organisation was established in 1963, and its technologies and programs have played a vital role in India’s socio-economic and industrial development.
- Features
- The organisation supports military and civilian domains in several aspects, such as navigation, disaster management, and reconnaissance missions.
- ISRO operates under the Department of Space which the Prime Minister of India oversees.
Content Source: The Hindu