Rohini RH-200

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  • The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be attempting the 200th consecutive successful launch of the Rohini RH-200 sounding rocket.

 Rohini RH-200 Rocket:

  • RH-200 is a 3.5-metre-tall rocket that is a part of Rohini sounding rockets.
  • According to NASA, sounding rockets derive their name from the nautical term “to sound” which refers to “taking measurements”.
  • Sounding rockets are used to test instruments used on satellites and spacecraft and these rockets have been used for various experiments to provide information about the Sun, stars, galaxies and Earth’s atmosphere and radiation.
  • The term “200” in the name represents the diameter of the rocket in mm and other key Rohini variants in operation include RH-300 Mk-II and RH-560 Mk-III.
  • The first sounding rocket launched by India was the American Nike-Apache in 1963.
  • Later, two-stage rockets imported from Russia (M-100) and France (Centaure) were launched.
  • However, ISRO launched its own sounding rocket in 1967 which was called “Rohini RH-75”.
  • RH-200 is a two-stage rocket with the ability to reach a height of 70 km with scientific payloads.
  • The first and second stages of RH-200 are powered by solid motors.
  • The RH-200 rocket has traditionally used a polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-based propellant. However, the RH-200 rocket was launched with the hydroxyl-terminated Polybutadiene (HTPB) propellant for the first time in September 2020.
  • ISRO has launched over 1,600 RH-200 rockets so far and will attempt the 200th consecutive successful launch of the rocket from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram.
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