Students of the VIT University, Vellore, have developed Rohini-200 (RH200), a sounding rocket, in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The sounding rocket — an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform experiments during its sub-orbital flight — will be launched from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, on July 7.
“This will be the first sounding rocket in India that carries a payload developed solely by students,” states a VIT release.
Ramakrishnan, former Director (Projects), VSSC mooted this idea, and a team headed by mechanical engineering students Dev Sharma and Sunayan Kumar, and comprising Manish Kumar Narnoli and Gautam Alok (Mechanical Engineering), Himanshu Misra (Electrical and Electronics Engineering), Chandresh Mittal (EEE), Ankit Sharma (Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering), and Nitesh Kumar (Electronics and Communication Engineering) and their mentor Geetha Manivasagam, Professor of Mechanical Engineering developed the rocket.
VIT University has fully funded the project and also plans for the second phase, which will include fabrication of the entire rocket with advanced payloads.
The team fabricated the payload and other components for the sounding rocket, which were continuously reviewed by B.V.A. Rao, Advisor to the Chancellor of VIT University, T. Rao, Director, Academic Research, VIT, Rashmi Ranjan Das of VIT, Panciker, Scientist, VSSC and Ratnakar Rao, Project Director (Sounding Rocket, VSSC). The launch of the sounding rocket developed by VIT students would be the 52nd launch of a sounding rocket from TERLS, the release said.
