Address: SHAR Center, Nellore District, Sriharikota 524 124, Andhra Pradesh, India

Telephone: 044-86235060

Fax: 044-568594

E-mail: Unlisted

Director: Dr. S. Vasantha

Subordinate to: Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Indian Space Research Organization-Department of Space

Primary Function: Main launch center for ISRO with facilities for processing solid propellant motors and conducting ground tests.

Description: The Sriharikota High Altitude Range (SHAR) is one of India's primary space centers with facilities for the launching of sounding rockets and multi-stage satellite launch vehicles (including Polar and Geostationary), facilities for testing and assembling rockets, and the necessary tracking, telemetry, computational, and communications facilities for launch control, satellite control, and remote sensing. The range also has a static test facility for testing and qualifying different solid rocket motors and a solid propellant space booster plant to cast large size propellant grains for satellite launch vehicles. Before the commissioning of a dedicated test range for missiles in the late 1980s, India's Ministry of Defense also used the facilities at SHAR to test missiles being developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. SHAR is located on Sriharikota island, Nellore district, (Andhra Pradesh) on India's east coast (13°47' North and 80°15' East). It covers an area 56 square miles with a coastal length of 16.7 miles.

Key Sources:
"Space Research," Atomic Energy and Space Research: A Profile For The Decade 1970-80 (Atomic Energy Commission, 1970), pp. 34-35; Department of Space, Annual Report: 1973-74 (Government of India), pp. 23, 26-27; "SHAR – Sriharikota Launching Range," Bharat Rakshak, <http://www.bharat-rakshak.com>; "SHAR Center," Indian Space Research Organization, <http://www.isro.org>.

	Updated July 2003