Tilla Satellite Launch Centre

Tilla Satellite Launch Centre, primary known as Tilla Range, is a (spaceport) 25 km west of Jhelum city in Punjab. The facility is also known as Mashhood Test Firing Range (MTFR). The spaceport has been used as a launch site for the Hypersonic Rocket Launch Vehicle Project (HRLV) and Ghauri ballistic missiles under development by the Khan Research Laboratories.

Location

Tilla is an eastward continuation of the Salt Range in Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan, 3,242 feet above the sea. From the Bunha torrent the range rises rapidly to the culminating peak of Tilla Jogian and thence sinks as rapidly, but a series of low parallel ridges runs out across the valley of the Kahan. During British Rule, the hill was sometimes used as a summer resort by officers of Jhelum District. A famous monastery of Jogi fakirs is situated here.

History

The exact timing of construction of Tilla Satellite Launch Centre is unknown and unclear. According to science sources from Pakistan, it is believed that the spaceport was built and indigenously constructed by SUPARCO sometime in 1989. The space facility is based on the model of Chinese space and missile sites, notably Base 603 and Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre. TSLC is a defence launch facility (spaceport). The facility has been used by Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL), Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), and China National Space Administration (CNSA).

Tilla (deity)

Tilla is a bull-god in the Hurrian and Hittite pantheons, the attendant and mount of the weather god Teshub.

The first king of the ancient Hittite city of Masuwari was named Hapatila, which may represent an old Hurrian name Hepa-tilla.

See also