Rocket launch sites in India
Rocket launches in India are carried out through either of the three sites in India or foreign sites, mainly French Guyana or Baikonur.
Satellite Launch sites in India
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
The center was earlier known as the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) (when started in 1962) but was then renamed in honor of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, often regarded as the father of the Indian space program. The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre(VSSC) is one of the main research and development (R&D) establishments within ISRO. It is an entirely indigenous facility working on the development of sounding rockets, the Rohini and Menaka launchers, and the ASLV, PSLV, GSLV and GSLV Mk III families of launch vehicles.
Satish Dhawan Space Centre
The Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) or Sriharikota Range (SHAR) is a rocket launch center which is located in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. It was established in 1969. Given it’s closeness to the equator and large of uninhabited space nearby, it is an ideal site. Most of the Indian launches are currently performed from here. It will be the main base for the Indian human spaceflight program with a new third launchpad being built specifically to meet the target of launching a manned space mission.
Military Rocket Testing sites in India
Abdul Kalam Island
The Dr. Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, is an island off the coast of Odisha, India, which hosts the Integrated Test Range missile testing facility. The Integrated Test Range is a missile testing facility composed of two complexes – Launch Complex-IV (LC-IV) located on Abdul Kalam Island and Launch Complex-III (LC-III) located at Chandipur.
It is operated by the DRDO and is host to most of the military missile testing in India.
Why are most rockets launched from the east coast of India (or even other countries)?
Launching a rocket from the east coast of a country gives it an additional boost, due to the rotational speed of Earth. Since these rockets travel eastward, so if anything goes wrong during their ascent, the debris would essentially fall into an ocean s waters, far away from densely populated areas limiting human casualties.
