ISRO Launches Sounding Rocket To Study Attitudinal Variations In Neutral Winds And Plasma Dynamics

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday (12 March) launched a sounding rocket (RH-560) from Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota-based Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) to study the attitudinal variations in the neutral winds and plasma dynamics, reports Times of India.

The sounding rockets are one or two-stage solid propellant rockets and are used to probe the upper atmospheric regions and for space research.

These rockets also serve as affordable platforms to test or to prove prototypes of new components or subsystems which are intended to be used in launch vehicles or satellites.

ISRO currently has three different versions of sounding rockets, namely RH-200, RH-300-Mk-II and RH-560-Mk-II, which are capable of carrying 8 to 100 kilogram of payload to an altitude varying between 80 to 475 kilometres from the ground.

"ISRO started launching indigenously made sounding rockets from 1965 and experience gained was of immense value in the mastering of solid propellant technology," the space agency said on its website.

In 1975, all sounding rocket activities were consolidated under the Rohini Sounding Rocket (RSR) Programme, the ISRO said.