Rohini Rocket Family

Description

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Context

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will attempt the 200th consecutively successful launch of the Rohini RH-200 sounding rocket from Thumba.

Rohini Rocket Family

Rohini is a series of sounding rockets developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)for meteorological and atmospheric study.
These sounding rockets are capable of carrying payloads of 2 to 200 kilograms between altitudes of 100 to 500 kilometres.
The ISRO currently uses RH-200, RH-300, RH-300 Mk-II, RH-560 Mk-II and RH-560 Mk-III rockets, which are launched from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching (TERLS) in Thumba and the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.
The rockets in the series are designated with the letters RH (for "Rohini"), followed by a number corresponding to the diameter (in millimetres) of the rocket.

Series

RH-75

The RH-75, the first sounding rocket developed by India, was launched from TERLS on September 20, 1969.[4] It weighed 32 kilograms (71 lb), had a diameter of 75 millimetres and flew 15 times between November 1967 and September 1968.

RH-125

This rocket was launched on October 9, 1971, from Sriharikota. It was a two-stage rocket using a solid propellant, carrying a 7 kilograms (15 lb) payload to 19 kilometres (12 mi) in altitude. It flew twice between January 1970 and October 1971.

RH-200

RH-200 is a solid motor-powered, expendable rocket capable of climbing up to a height of 70 km bearing payloads designed to study the upper atmosphere. ISRO has launched more than 1,600 RH-200 rockets so far.

RH-300

The Rh-300 is a single stage sounding rocket, derived from French Belier rocket engine technology. It has a launch altitude of 100 km (62 mi). A variant, the RH-300 Mk-II, has a maximum launch altitude of 116 kilometres.

RH-560

This two stage vehicle is derived from French Stromboli engine technology. Another variant, the RH-560 Mk-II, can reach a maximum launch altitude of 548 kilometres. The RH-560 Mk-III variant's maiden flight (the flight was successful) was 12 March 2021.

Applications

The RH-200 is used for meteorological studies, the RH-300 Mk-II for upper-atmospheric studies and the RH-560 Mk-II for ionospheric studies.

Sounding Rocket

Sounding rockets are one or two stage solid propellant rockets used for probing the upper atmospheric regions and for space research. They also serve as easily affordable platforms to test or prove prototypes of new components or subsystems intended for use in launch vehicles and satellites. The first sounding rocket to be launched from Thumba was the American Nike-Apache - on November 21, 1963. After that, two-stage rockets imported from Russia (M-100) and France (Centaure) were flown. The ISRO launched its own version - Rohini RH-75 - in 1967. In 1975, all sounding rocket activities were consolidated under the Rohini Sounding Rocket (RSR) Programme.