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Thumba vs Eastern coast launch pad

edited December 2014 in Science & Tech
Why dont we use Thumba, instead we use all our eastern coast centre like wheeler, sriharikota etc any specific reason

Comments

  • @jatsab

    An ideal launch site must have the following important criteria:

    (i) Must be situated on a sea coast as during the course of flight, the launch vehicle (rocket) sheds out lot of spent hardware which will impact on the earth and the maximum distance of impact (from launch site) could be even 6, 500 kms at times.

    (ii) It should have moderate weather conditions. As Sriharikota satisfies all the above conditions it is a preferred launch site.

    moreover

    Several factors influence the choice of a launch site. It should be located away from populated areas. Since it involves moving of heavy equipment to the launch site, rail, road and/or shipping accessibility should be taken care of. Coastal areas become the preferred launch sites. Sriharikota fits all these requirements. Some of the other famous launch sites which fulfil these requirements in the world are: Kennedy site in Florida, U. S.,wheeler island india, Kourou in French Guiana, South America, San Marco in Africa and Alcantara in Brazil, South America.

    Earth rotates from west to east. Man made satellites also go round the earth in the same direction (west-east). When satellites are launched towards east the satellite gains incremental velocity of the earth velocity, as it leaves the earth's atmosphere. (If one were to launch towards west direction the satellite will lose that much velocity when it leaves the earth's atmosphere. It calls for unnecessarily higher energy to put a satellite in that way).

    Communication satellites are put into geostationary orbit above the equator with zero inclination to the equatorial plane. To achieve this the launch site should be ideally located on the equator or close to the equator. Otherwise the satellite orbit would be inclined to the equatorial plane and it has to be manoeuvred for which extra fuel is required. Also the launch site should be free of human population in and around.

    hope this helps.... :)>-
  • Hi,
    A small nugget on why Thumba was chosen in the first place:
    Chitnis selected Thumba as it was very close to the magnetic equator of the earth, making it an ideal location for scientists to conduct low-altitude, upper atmosphere and ionosphere studies.
    Read here
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