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Rohini is a series of sounding rockets developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for meteorological and atmospheric study. These sounding rockets are capable of carrying payloads of 2 to 200 kilograms (4.4 to 440.9 lb) between altitudes of 100 to 500 kilometres (62 to 311 mi). The ISRO currently uses RH-200, RH-300, RH-300 Mk-II and RH-560 Mk-II rockets, which are launched from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Thumba and the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.
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Nomenclature
The rockets in the series are designated with the letters RH (for "Rohini"), followed by a number corresponding to the diameter (in millimetres) of the rocket.
Series
The RH-75, the first sounding rocket developed by India, was launched from TERLS on November 20, 1967. It weighed 32 kilograms (71 lb), had a diameter of 75 millimetres (3.0 in) and flew 15 times between November 1967 and September 1968.
This rocket was launched on October 9, 1971 from Sriharikota. It was a two-stage rocket using a solid propellant, carrying a 7 kilograms (15 lb) payload to 19 kilometres (12 mi) in altitude. It flew twice between January 1970 and October 1971.
The RH-200 has a maximum launch altitude of 70 kilometres (43 mi). A variant, the RH-300 Mk-II, has a maximum launch altitude of 116 kilometres (72 mi). Another variant, the RH-560 Mk-II, can reach a maximum launch altitude of 548 kilometres (341 mi).
Applications
The RH-200 is used for meteorological studies, the RH-300 Mk-II for upper-atmospheric studies and the RH-560 Mk-II for ionospheric studies. The RH-200 was used as the rocket for the first payload launch in India made by students (from VIT University in Vellore). The team members include Dev Sharma, Sunayan Kumar, Himanshu Misra, Chandresh Mittal, Ankit Sharma, Manish Kumar Narnoli, Nitesh Kumar and Gautam Alok.