THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Around 2,500 people, most of them school students, stood in the blinding afternoon light counting every minute to the countdown. Had the sounding rocket launch at Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) got delayed by even a second, there would have been a 2,500-strong uprising. However, at 3 pm sharp, RH-200 took off, leaving behind awe and a trail of milky white puff.
There is just one thing that could have stalled the launch. The landing of an airplane at the airport near TERLS. Because of the proximity of the station to the airport and the international shipping corridor, clearance from the respective authorities were obtained fifteen days prior to the launch.
The two-stage rocket, with 4 m height and 2.6 m diameter, had a humble mission. It would release copper chaffe into the atmosphere, which would truthfully convey the wind velocity and direction at that height.
“The rocket achieved a height of 65 kilometres on Tuesday. We launch RH-200 nearly every month. But this Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as part of observing the World Space Week, the public are allowed in,” said TERLS Range Operation Director Koshy Mamman.
Thumba launches sounding rockets or rockets which ‘sound’ earth’s upper layer of atmosphere, to help in meteorological studies.
Everyone was allowed into the Space Museum, which was previously St Mary Magdalene Church. In 1962, Vikram Sarabhai sought permission from Bishop Peter Bernard Pereira to use the church for assembling rockets. Nike Apache, the first rocket to be launched by VSSC in 1964, was assembled in the church’s altar.
The Space Museum was previously St Mary Magdalene Church. “The people living around the church had to be evacuated. That caused some rumble in the beginning. But the people moved as the Bishop supported the cause of space science. The government gave them land in Pallithura, where a new church was built. Here, of course, no worship happens, but there are days, when we find wax at the door,” said C M Antony, a VSSC technician who was one of the guides at the museum.
Rockets in the Rohini series were the first rockets to be made in India. Space research in the country has certainly taken off since then. The space museum too keeps getting new additions - the latest being a corner dedicated to the Chandrayaan mission.
Rahul S Arumugham, a class IX student at Adarsh Vidya Kendra, Nagercoil, boarded a bus early in the morning, so as not to miss any of the WSW activities. He watched high-altitude balloon launches too. “A balloon filled with Hydrogen was sent up. It had sensors and antenna attached to it, to record the wind speed. Apparently, the gas expands and at very high altitudes the balloon bursts. We were told that Helium is a better gas, but is very expensive,” said Rahul. The balloon went as high as 30 kilometres.
There are more launches of sounding rockets scheduled for 3 pm on October 8 and 9 as well as at 11.45 am on October 10.
The high altitude balloon launches are at 11 am, 12 pm and 2 pm. VSSC Space Museum will be open to the public from 9 am to 5 pm on the days.
Free entry passes can be collected from Canal Gate (known locally as Station Kadavu or Poundu Kadavu) after arrival, on production of any photo ID card. Visit http://wsw.vssc.gov.in or call up 0471-2564171/4172/5695 for more details.