The Diamond Jubilee of India’s first sounding rocket launch from Thumba in Kerala was celebrated on 21st November 2023.
Key points
- 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.
- India’s space programme was born in Thumba in Kerala’s capital, Thiruvananthapuram, on November 21, 1963.
- The launch of the sounding rocket Nike-Apache, procured from the US, marked the beginning of rocketry in India.
- The rocket was taken to the launch site on a bullock cart; later rockets would take bicycles.
- The Nike Apache weighed 715 kg and reached an altitude of 207 km with a 30-kg payload.
- In 1975, all sounding rocket activities were consolidated under the Rohini Sounding Rocket (RSR) Programme.
- RH-75, with a diameter of 75mm was the first truly Indian sounding rocket, which was followed by RH-100 and RH-125 rockets.
