Rohini RH-200 Rocket

Tags: Defence Science and Technology

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is planning the 200th consecutive successful launch of the Rohini RH-200 sounding rocket.

About Rohini RH-200 Rocket

• The RH-200 is a two-stage rocket capable of climbing to an altitude of 70 km.

• The first and second stages of the RH-200 are driven by solid motors.

• The '200' in the name refers to the diameter of the rocket in mm.

• Other Rohini variants - RH-300 Mk-II and RH-560 Mk-III.

• Over the years, the RH-200 rocket used a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) based propellant.

• The first RH-200 to use a new propellant based on hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) was successfully flown from TERLS in September 2020.

• Since the inception of the RH200 rocket, both solid stages are processed using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) based propellants.

About Sounding Rocket

• These are one- or two-stage solid propellant rockets used for exploration of the upper atmospheric regions and for space research.

• Rockets are used to launch instruments 48 to 145 km above the Earth's surface.

• The first sounding rocket to be launched from Thumba was the American Nike-Apache, which was launched on November 21, 1963.

• The ISRO launched its own version, Rohini RH-75 in 1967.

• ISRO has so far launched more than 1,600 RH-200 rockets.