Isro space shuttle completes first successful test demo

Isro space shuttle completes first successful test demo
The test was a step towards developing the final space shuttle as part of the Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator

In a milestone towards developing its own reusable launch vehicle, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully carried out a technology demonstration of its reusable space launch vehicle at Sriharikota on Monday at 7am.

A reusable launch vehicle will be capable of taking satellites to space and then landing back on earth so that it can be used more than once and is expected to drastically reduce the cost of space missions in the future.

“Mission has been accomplished and all the parameters and trajectories were fulfilled. The liftoff was sharp at 7am and then the vehicle landed in the Bay of Bengal,” an Isro spokesperson told Mint. “This was the hypersonic flight experiment (HEX), the next test will be focussed on landing the vehicle,” added the Isro official.

The Monday test was one of the many tests and demonstrations towards developing the final space shuttle as part of Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD). For the test, Isro scientists had developed a scaled model of the vehicle which was one-fifth the size of the final reusable launch vehicle. This scaled model was capable of going up to an altitude of 70 km, which was not designed to land on a runway.

“Hearty congratulations to our space scientists at ISRO on successful launch of India’s first-ever indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD,” said President Pranab Mukherjee in a tweet after the technology demonstration was carried out.

A Winged Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator will be used in a series of tests to assess various technologies, including hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air-breathing propulsion.

“We are not even looking at landing. This is more of an experiment to see whether we are able to achieve certain conditions on flight. We need a vehicle that can come from a speed of Mach 25 to Mach Zero, has material that can survive very high temperatures and also test our own mission management software,” said K. Sivan, director of Isro’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

According to the space agency’s last annual report, the agency has completed studies related to the rocket by carrying out various simulations. It also validated the on-board software and conducted a successful test of the solid booster motor (HS9) with Secondary Injection Thrust Vector Control system.

This scaled model is nowhere near the real Two Stage to Orbit reusable vehicle the space agency is aiming to develop which is expected to bring the cost of launches to a tenth of what they are today.

“Many such experiments will be carried out in the future, such as for the parachute system which will be put together eventually. We are looking at frugal engineering, developing advanced systems efficiently,” said K. Sivan, director of Isro’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. “The final reusable launch vehicle will not be ready for another decade,” he added.