• Forum
• SITREP
• Military
• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security

• Space

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Public Eye

Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC)
Liquid Propolusion Systems Center (LPSC)
Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station [TERLS]
8°29'N 76°55'E

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC) in Tiruvananthapuram is responsible for the whole gamut of issues involved in launch vehicle development. Its scientists and engineers have several success stories of which to boast. From humble beginnings, starting with the early days of sounding rockets, its most recent success story is the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) which placed the indigenous 1000 KG class Indian Remote Sensing satellite IRS-P2 in orbit on October 15, 1994. PSLV's successor is the GSLV, with the G standing for Geosynchronous. It will be capable of launching 2500 KG class communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

The Liquid Propolusion Systems Center (LPSC) is reponsible for R&D in liquid propulsion, earth storable and cryogenic engines, stages and associated components for launching spacecraft .

The Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station [TERLS] is located on the magnetic equator and hence strategically poised for scientists to conduct atmospheric research. The Thumba Station at the VSSC Complex has been dedicated to the UN for research on atmospheric sciences. India's practical space activity began with the establishment of Thumba. At the helm of affairs overseeing this token achievement was Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, Chairman of the erstwhile Indian National Committee for Space Research. India's space program started on a modest scale in November 1963 with the launching of a small American Nike-Apache rocket from the newly built launching pad at Thumba. Over the next twelve years the US, UK, France and Russia launched more than 350 small rockets from Thumba, which these countries helped build and equip.

Each INSAT satellite is the product of the well-orchestrated effort of the four major centres of ISRO. The main frame of the satellite which carries the controls, telemetry and tele-command, deployment and power systems is manufactured by the ISRO Satellite Center at Bangalore, which also does the mission planning and analysis and manages the whole project. The gyro units, reaction wheels and momentum wheels, to keep the satellite stable in orbit, are fabricated at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, which is also responsible for the antenna reflectors and scanning mechanism for the Very High Resolution Radiometer(VHRR), that forms the main meteorological payload of INSAT. The VHRR itself is a contribution of the Space Applications Center at Ahmedabad, which also provides for communications transponders. Another vital component, the apogee boost motor (that takes the satellite from its transfer orbit to the geostationary orbit) and the thrusters (required for maintaining the satellite in its assigned slot in orbit) are manufactured at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Center at Thiruvanthapuram.