Thumba is a vast village bordering Menamkulam in the east, St. Dominic's Vettucaud in the north, and Kochuthura in the south; towards its west is the Arabian Sea.

The entire village is flat at sea level, and the ground near to the coast is made of tan-coloured beach sand.

TERLS was founded in Thumba in 1962 in the district of Trivandrum on the southern tip of India very close to Earth's magnetic equator to launch sounding rockets.TERLS was dedicated to the United Nations on 2 February 1968.

Murthy, D Eswar Das, M R Kurup and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, later President of India were amongst the initial team of rocket engineers.

[1] The new Vikram Sarabhai Space Center is located close to TERLS and has become one of ISRO's premiere research and development sites.