Satish Dhawan Space Centre

The Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) is the launch centre for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is located in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, India and is also referred to as Sriharikota. The centre is at 13°47' North 80°15' East and is roughly 80 kilometres north of Madras in South India. It was originally called "Sriharikota Range" (SHAR), and was sometime known as "Sriharikota Launching Range". The centre was renamed to its present name 2002 after the death of ISRO's former chairman Satish Dhawan. The space centre has kept the title SHAR during these name changes.

The centre became operational 1971-10-01 when an RH-125 sounding rocket was launched. [cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/rh125.htm |title=RH-125 |publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica] The first attempted launch of an orbital satellite, Rohini 1A aboard a Satellite Launch Vehicle, took place 1979-08-10, but due to a failure in thrust vectoring of the rocket's second stage, the satellite's orbit decayed 1979-08-19. [cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/slv.htm |title=SLV |publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica]

The SHAR facility now consists of two launch pads, with the second built recently. The second launch pad was used for launches beginning in 2005 and is a universal launch pad, accommodating all of the launch vehicles used by ISRO. The two launch pads will allow multiple launches in a single year, which was not possible earlier.

India's lunar orbiter Chandrayaan 1 is scheduled to be launched from the centre at 6:20 AM on October 22.

List of launchpads

* Pad 1
* Pad 2 - Universal Launch Pad, operational after 2005

Launches from SDSC

* 1979: First experimental launch of SLV-3 with Rohini satellite on board failed.
* 1980: Second experimental launch of SLV-3 Rohini satellite successfully placed in orbit.
* 1983: Second launch of SLV-3. RS-D2 placed in orbit.
* 1987: ASLV with SROSS-1 satellite on board launched.
* 1992: Third developmental launch of ASLV with SROCC-C on board (May). Satellite placed in orbit. First indigenously built satellite
* 1993: First developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-1E on board fails.
* 1994: Fourth developmental launch of ASLV successful (May). Second developmental launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) with IRS-P2 successfully (October).
* 1995: Third operational IRS (IRS) launched.
* 1996: Third developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-P3 successful (March).
* 1997: First operational launch of PSLV with IRS-1D successful (September).
* 1999: IRS-P4 (OCEANSAT), launched by Polar Satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C2) along with Korean KITSAT-3 and German DLR-TUBSAT from Sriharikota (26 May, 1999).
* 2001: Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-D1 (GSLV-D1), the first developmental launch of GSLV with GSAT-1 onboard partially successful.
* 2002: PSLV-C4 launches MetSat-1, later renamed Kalpana-1 (September).
* 2003: GSLV-D2, the second developmental launch of GSLV with GSAT-2 successful (May).
* 2004: First operational flight of GSLV (F01) successfully launches EDUSAT (September).
* 2005: Launch of CARTOSAT and HAMSAT by PSLV-C6 from the second launch pad (Universal Launch Pad) (May).
* 2006: Second operational flight of GSLV (F02) unsuccessful July 10, 2006. GSLV-F02 was carrying INSAT-4C.
* 2007: Successful launch of CARTOSAT-2, SRE-1, LAPAN-TUBSAT and PEHUENSAT-1 on PSLV C7 on January 10, 2007.
* 2007: SRE-1 splashed down in the Bay of Bengal on January 22, 2007 and was successfully recovered by the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy, making India one of the few countries to have re-entry technology.
* 2007: PSLV-C8 successfully places an Italian satellite, AGILE into its orbit on April 23.
* 2 September 2007 -- GSLV-F04 launched with INSAT 4CR [cite web |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/INSAT-4CR_successfully_placed_in_orbit/articleshow/2331752.cms |title=INSAT-4CR successfully placed in orbit |publisher=Times of India]
* 21 January 2008 - PSLV-C10 launches TecSAR.
* 28 April 2008 - PSLV-C-9 launches 10 Satellites successfully (2 Indian + 8 foreign)

References

External links

* [http://www.isro.org/centers/cen_shar.htm ISRO website: Satish Dhawan Space Centre]
* [http://www.astronautix.com/sites/sriikota.htm Sriharikota on Encyclopedia Astronautica]
* [http://www.fas.org/spp/guide/india/facility/shar.htm Federation of American Scientists: Satish Dhawan Space Centre]
* [http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/SPACE/space-centers.html#SHAR%20-%20Sriharikota%20Launching%20Range SHAR centre layout]

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