Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station

Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS),Thiruvananthapuram is an Indian spaceport established on 21 November 1963.[1] Operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), it is located in Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, which is near the southwestern tip of mainland India, very close to earth's magnetic equator. It is currently used by ISRO for launching sounding rockets.[1]

Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station
Launch of RH-300 Mk2 from TERLS
LocationThumba, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Coordinates8°32′34″N 76°51′32″E
Time zoneUTC+05:30 (IST)
Short nameTERLS
Established21 November 1963 (1963-11-21)
OperatorISRO

The first rockets were assembled in the former St Louis High School, which now houses a space museum.[2] The local Bishop of Trivandrum, Rev. Peter Bernard Periera, along with Vincent Victor Dereere (a Belgian) and district collector Madhavan Nair were instrumental in acquiring a large parcel of land measuring 600 acres from coastal community.[3] Periera had given away the prayer hall and bishop's room in the local church. Minister of State for External Affairs, Lakshmi N. Menon helped to smooth bureaucratic hurdles facing the project in Delhi.[4] H. G. S. Murthy was appointed as the first Director of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station.[5]

Location

Thumba's[6] location at 8°32'34" N and 76°51'32" E is ideal for low-altitude, upper atmosphere and ionosphere studies. Thumba is a small fishing village situated close to the Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala.[7] [8]

References
  1. "Sounding Rockets - ISRO". www.isro.gov.in. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  2. "Transported on a Bicycle, Launched from a Church: The Amazing Story of India's First Rocket Launch". The Better India. 8 November 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  3. ICM, Team (23 July 2019). "When ISRO Aimed For the Heavens, a Tiny Church in Kerala Said Amen!". Indian Catholic Matters. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  4. "Remembering the guiding light". www.deccanchronicle.com. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  5. "I'm proud that I recommended him for ISRO: EV Chitnis".
  6. Ley, Willy (June 1964). "Anyone Else for Space?". For Your Information. Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 110–128.
  7. "Forty years in Space". www.rediff.com. India Abroad. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  8. Ram, Arun (19 February 2015). "Rocket science of south". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station.

8°32′34″N 76°51′32″E

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.