Thumba: India’s first rocket launching station.

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Thumba was a small fishing village near Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram). Then why was it selected as India’s first rocket launching station? The answer has to do with something known as the magnetic equator. Now, I want to make it clear that there is a significant difference between what we commonly refer to as the equator a.k.a the geographical equator, and the magnetic equator. The phenomenon that directly above the magnetic equator, at an altitude of about 110-kilo meters in the atmosphere, a system of electric current known as Equitorial electrojets exists. To study this phenomenon in a better way you have to be as close as possible to the magnetic equator. Moreover, Thumba’s location was suitable for low altitude, upper atmosphere, and ionosphere studies.

Apple Satellite being carried on a bullock cart to launch site.

In the 1960s there were very few places on the earth close to the magnetic equator with adequate infrastructure to support such research. Thumba, being the right place to develop infrastructure to facilitate scientific research of this kind, was chosen to build India’s first rocket launching station. So in the year 1962, the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), took up the mission to set up the Equatorial Rocket Launching station at Thumba. The site selected was about 600 acres in area, and a large church was situated within the site. The church was acquired and another church was built for the parishioners. The Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station(TERLS) was built. The initial days at Thumba were very hard. The church housed the first office of the TERLS. The prayer room became the laboratory, and the bishop’s room became the design and drawing office. On 21st November 1963, India’s first rocket launch took place. The rocket was a sounding rocket called the Nick- Apache, which was built at NASA. It was assembled in the church building, and the only equipment for its transportation was a truck and a crane. When the rocket was lifted by the crane, a leak in the hydraulic system was identified and was lifted to the launcher by the scientists and the engineers of the project.

Dr Vikram Sarabhai with Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

TERLS was later renamed Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), in the honor of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India’s space program.

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