BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched its indigenously built Rohini RH-200 sounding rocket on Wednesday. It was a historic moment, since it is the sounding rocket’s 200th consecutive launch, having completed 100 launches in 2015.
The launch was witnessed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, alongside ISRO Chairman S Somanath, at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram. “It was a matter of pride visiting the VSSC today, the largest centre under ISRO, responsible for the design and development of launch vehicle technology. We also witnessed the 200th launch of Rohini RH-200 sounding rocket,” said Kovid, who was on a two-day visit to Kerala.
The RH-200 is one of three sounding rockets currently operational with ISRO, the other two being the RH-300 Mk 2 and the RH-560 Mk 2. The rockets are part of a series of sounding rockets developed by ISRO under the Rohini Sounding Rocket (RSR) Programme. Currently, the RH-200 has had a total of over 1,600 launches.