Chennai: Isro’s spaceport in Sriharikota has escaped the fury of the cyclone Vardah as it had little impact on the technical establishments at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The SDSC in Sriharikota is serving as the spaceport for the country as the rockets ferry the satellites to space from here. The severe cyclone wrecked havoc in Chennai by causing damages to buildings and uprooting several thousand trees on the roads.
“We have absolutely no impact on any of the technical establishments here. All our buildings and establishments have designed to withstand much more wind speeds than whatever we experienced here,” said P.Kunhikrishnan, director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
Both the launch pads are free when the cyclone passed here. “We have our meteorological division here. So, we knew when the cyclone will pass this area and we had planned our activities accordingly. So, we have no impact on any of the technical facilities or the launch pad,” he said.
But there are many trees uprooted inside SDSC. “We have a lot of trees uprooted here. We will clear everything by the Tuesday morning,” he added.
In some places, overhead electrical lines are damaged. But it is expected to be restored very soon. The centre is gearing up for GSLV Mk-III launch as activities are going on at various facilities here.
