Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station |Thumba Equatorial
Rocket Launching Station| |Launch of RH-300 Mk2 from TERLS|
|Formed||November 21, 1963| |Jurisdiction||Indian federal
government| |Headquarters||Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram, India
|Annual budget||See ISRO| |ISRO TERLS home page| The Thumba
Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) is an Indian
spaceport operated by the Indian Space Research Organization. It
is located in Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram which is near the
southern tip of mainland India, very close to earth's magnetic
equator. It currently used by ISRO for launching sounding
rockets. Thumba is located very close the magnetic equator of
the Earth (located just north of Thumba), making it the ideal
location for scientists to conduct atmospheric research. In
fact, Thumba's location at 8°32'34" N and 76°51'32" E is ideal
for low-altitude, upper atmosphere and ionosphere studies.
Thumba is a small fishing village situated close to the
Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala. In 1962, the Indian N