Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)(Hindi:विक्रम साराभाई अंतरिक्ष केंद्र, Malayalam: വിക്രം സാരാഭായ് ബഹിരാകാശകേന്ദ്രം) is a major space research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satelliteprogramme. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, in the Indian state of Kerala.

The centre had its beginnings as the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in 1962. It was renamed in honour of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space program.

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre is one of the main Research & Development establishments within ISRO. VSSC is an entirely indigenous facility working on the development of sounding rockets; Rohini and Menaka launchers; ASLV, PSLV GSLV and the GSLV Mk III.

VSSC's current director is S. Ramakrishnan. He took over from P.S. Veeraraghavan on December 31, 2012.

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is the largest of ISRO facilities. It is a centre for the design and development of satellite launch vehicles and associated technologies. The centre pursues research and development in a host of distinct technology domains including Aeronautics,Avionics, Composites, etc. primarily for the purpose of advancing launch vehicle technology.

After the incorporation of Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) in 1962, its first act was the establishment of the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) at Thumba, in Thiruvananthapuram. Thumba was picked as the launch site for sounding rockets for meteorological and upper atmospheric research due to its location on the Geomagnetic Equator.

November 21, 1963 marked India's first venture into space, with the launch of a two-stage Nike Apache sounding rocket from TERLS. The first rockets launched were built in United States.

The first Indian designed and built rocket, RH-75, made its maiden flight on November 20, 1967. This was the 52nd launch of a sounding rocket from TERLS. It was flown twice again in 1967 and another 12 times in 1968, making a total of 15 RH-75 flights.

Among the sounding rockets to have flown from TERLS were Arcas-1, Arcas-11, Centaure-1, 11A and 11B, Dragon-1, Dual Hawk, Judy Dart, Menaka-1, Menaka-1Mk 1 and Mk11, Nike Tomahawk, M-100, Petrel, RH-100, RH-125, RH-200 (S), RH-300, variants of RH-560, etc. There have been a total of nearly 2200 sounding rocket launches from TERLS, so far.

Over the years VSSC has designed, developed and launched a family of sounding rockets under the generic name, Rohini Sounding Rockets (RSR) to serve a range of scientific missions. The currently operational Rohini Sounding Rockets are RH-200, RH-300, RH-560 and their different versions. These sounding rockets are launched for carrying out research in areas like meteorology and upper atmospheric processes up to an altitude of about 500 km.

TERLS was formally dedicated to the United Nations on February 2, 1968 by then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Although no direct funding from the UN was involved, scientists from several countries including USA, Russia (former USSR), France, Japan, Germany and UK continue to utilize the TERLS facility for conducting rocket based experiments. Over 1161 USSR meteorological sounding rockets called M-100 were launched from TERLS every week from 1970 until 1993.

After the sudden demise of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai on December 30, 1971, TERLS and associated space establishments at Thiruvananthapuram were renamed as the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in his honour.

In the early 1980s, VSSC was instrumental in the development of India's Satellite Launch Vehicle program, SLV-3. This was followed in the late 1980s with the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), for launching 150 kg satellites into near earth orbits.

In the 1990s, VSSC contributed to the development of India’s workhorse launch vehicle, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).