out target-tracking functions .
The RSR programme was responsible for the development and fabrication of sounding rockets and their associated on-board systems for scientific investigations in India . Under this programme , a family of operational sounding rockets were developed . These rockets had wide ranging capabilities , and to date several hundreds of these rockets have been launched for various scientific and technological studies .
I still remember that the first Rohini rocket consisted of a single solid propulsion motor weighing a mere 32 kg . It lifted a nominal 7 kg payload to an altitude of about 10 km . It was soon followed by another , to which one more solid propellant stage was added to dispatch multi-experiment payloads weighing nearly 100 kg to an altitude of over 350 km .
The development of these rockets had resulted in a fully indigenous capability in the production of sounding rockets as well as their propellants . This programme had brought into the country technology for the production of very highperformance solid propellants , like those based on polyurethane and polybutane polymer . It later resulted in the setting up of a Propellant Fuel Complex ( PFC ) to manufacture strategic chemicals required for rocket engines , and a Rocket Propellant Plant ( RPP ) to produce propellants .
The development of Indian rockets in the twentieth century can be seen as a revival of the eighteenth century dream of Tipu Sultan . When Tipu Sultan was killed , the British captured more than 700 rockets and subsystems of 900 rockets in the battle of Turukhanahally in 1799 . His army had 27 brigades , called Kushoons , and each brigade had a company of rocket men , called Jourks . These rockets had been taken to England by William Congreve and were subjected by the British to what we call ‘ reverse engineering ’ today . There were , of course , no GATT , IPR Act , or patent regime . With the death of Tipu , Indian rocketry also met its demise — at least for 150 years .
Meanwhile , rocket technology made great strides abroad . Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in Russia ( 1903 ), Robert Goddard in USA ( 1914 ) and Hermann Oberth in Germany ( 1923 ) gave rocketry new dimensions . In Nazi Germany , Wernher von Braun ’ s group produced V-2 short range ballistic missiles and showered fire on the Allied Forces . After the war , both the USA and the USSR captured their share of German rocket technology and rocket engineers . With this booty , they started to run their deadly arms race with missiles and warheads .
Rocketry was reborn in India thanks to the technological vision of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru . Prof . Sarabhai took the challenge of giving physical dimensions to this dream . Very many individuals with myopic vision questioned the relevance of space activities in a newly independent nation which was finding it difficult to feed its population . But neither Prime Minister Nehru nor Prof . Sarabhai had any ambiguity of purpose . Their vision was very clear : if Indians were to play a meaningful role in the community of nations , they must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to their real-life problems . They had no intention of using it merely as a means to display our might . * * *