Railway
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) of ISRO is located at:
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option A — Thiruvananthapuram
Detailed Solution
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is located at Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala. It is the lead centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the design and development of launch vehicles (rockets) and related technologies.
VSSC grew out of the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), set up in 1962-63 at Thumba, a fishing village near Thiruvananthapuram. Thumba was chosen because it lies very close to the magnetic (geomagnetic) equator, which made it ideal for studying the upper atmosphere and the ionosphere. India's first sounding rocket, a US-made Nike-Apache, was launched from Thumba on 21 November 1963. The church of St Mary Magdalene at Thumba was given by the local bishop and parishioners to house the early laboratory and is now the Space Museum. In 1968, TERLS was dedicated to the United Nations.
After the death of Dr Vikram Sarabhai in December 1971, the space science and technology centre at Thumba was renamed the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in his honour. Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam worked at VSSC and led the development of India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV-3, which put the Rohini satellite into orbit in 1980.
VSSC has developed India's launch vehicles, including the SLV, ASLV, PSLV, GSLV and LVM3 (GSLV Mk III), which launched Chandrayaan-3 in 2023. It is also working on the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme and reusable launch vehicles.
Other ISRO centres:
Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR): Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, the main launch site.
U.R. Rao Satellite Centre (URSC): Bengaluru, for satellite design.
Space Applications Centre (SAC): Ahmedabad.
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC): Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru.
ISRO Propulsion Complex: Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.
National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC): Hyderabad.
ISRO headquarters: Bengaluru.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Sriharikota hosts the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the launch site.
Bengaluru hosts ISRO headquarters and the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre.
Ahmedabad hosts the Space Applications Centre and the Physical Research Laboratory.
Quick tip
Remember: VSSC = Thiruvananthapuram (launch vehicles), grew from TERLS Thumba (1963, near the magnetic equator); launch site = Sriharikota; satellites = U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, Bengaluru.
💬 Discussions on this question
Ask a doubt ›Still stuck on this question? Ask our faculty and fellow students — answers appear here.
Ask a doubtMore Scientific Research Institutes & Organisations Questions
View all ›- Q1.The National Institute of Virology (NIV) is located in:
- Q2.The Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) was the earlier name of:
- Q3.Dakshin Gangotri, Maitri and Bharati are India's research stations in:
- Q4.The National Informatics Centre (NIC), which provides IT support to the government, was established in:
- Q5.Which institute has developed an open-source tool called "IMPART" to monitor lake water surface temperatures?
More General Knowledge Questions
- Q1.The techniques of Rasa and Bhava used in Indian classical dance trace their origin to which ancient text?Indian Dance Forms
- Q2.Lavani, Powada, Koli, Waghya Murali and Dhangari Gaja are folk dances of which state?Indian Dance Forms
- Q3.The one-act play associated with the Sattriya tradition of Assam is called:Indian Dance Forms
- Q4.Which dance form of Goa is known as the 'Warrior Dance'?Indian Dance Forms
- Q5.Manipuri dance is based on the Rasleela themes of:Indian Dance Forms
Scientific Research Institutes & Organisations — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Scientific Research Institutes & Organisations, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers India's scientific research institutes and organisations, such as BARC, ISRO, DRDO, CSIR and its laboratories, ICAR and ICMR, and specialised research centres for crops, animals, oceans and medicine, along with where they are located. Questions usually ask where an institute is located and what it researches. For example, BARC is in Mumbai, the Central Rice Research Institute is in Cuttack, and the National Institute of Oceanography is in Goa. A table of institute, city and field is the best way to revise this topic. Practise the research institutes questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.