DRDO to test Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle

tramp

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Whats the status of the vehicle and when will be the first test flight?
 

JAISWAL

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India's first Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle being tested




Hyderabad – A series of tests are underway for India's first Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) and this will get a boost with the wind tunnel facility coming up here.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is confident that HSTDV, which has already achieved 6.5 Mach, will achieve its aim of scramjet flight for 20 seconds.
Mach is commonly used to represent the speed of an object when it is travelling close to or above the speed of sound.
V.G. Sekaran, director general (missiles and strategic systems), DRDO, told reporters here Wednesday they have already achieved some milestones in terms of engine development.
"HSTDV would give us a lead in hypersonic vehicle design, scramjet, material technology and how to manage environment which is peculiar to hypersonic flying engines," he said.
He said work on the wind tunnel required for tests had started and it would be ready in one-and-half years. He was confident this would reduce the development cycle in hypersonic programme.
Issues related to a long term hypersonic programme in the country will be discussed at a two-day international symposium beginning here Thursday.
The sixth symposium on "Applied aerodynamics and design of aerospace vehicles" will discuss the roadmap for some of the futuristic hypersonic programmes.
Prahlada, vice chancellor, Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, said India was looking at extreme technologies in aerodynamics aimed at making aircraft efficient, green and quiet with smooth flying.
He said India required Aerostat and aerodynamics in a big way. Two types of Aerostat were developed and deployed which can go up to one km. Aerostat which can go up to four km and carry two tonnes of load were under development, he added.
"Our aim is it develop an Aerostat which can go to 10 km and lift 10-20 tonnes in bad terrain," he said.
A series of Aerostats will be developed that can be used both for civilian and military purposes.
Prahlada said work was also on to develop micro air vehicles, emulating how some birds like hummingbird and bumblebee fly.
"These birds have very special aerodynamic control. We have not been able to simulate similar aerodynamics for unmanned micro air vehicle. We are looking at using smart material which works like these birds," he said.
He pointed out these birds can stay where they are and keep lifting without moving forward. Normally when an aircraft lifts, it has to move. Both forward motion and lift are linked but in case of birds, it is delinked, he added.
Source
 

Indibomber

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CHENNAI:The re-usable launch vehicle designed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) could boost India’s dream of building a hypersonic aircraft, say space scientists. India is testing a model of re-usable launch vehicle where the hypersonic flight characteristics and guidance system of the vehicle will be tested.

Talking to Express on the sidelines of All India Federation of Master Printers-RICOH National Awards for Excellence in Printing here on Friday, K Sivan, director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, said that India’s mettle in space exploration would be proven during the demonstration of a model of re-usable launch vehicle by the end of this year.

Talking about the launch of the model of re-usable launch vehicle, Sivan said that it will be one-sixth of the size of aircraft. The model will be a hypersonic flight experiment, where the hypersonic flight characteristics and guidance systems of the vehicle would be tested. “We will be testing the aerodynamics of hypersonic speed vehicle,” said Sivan.

He said that the re-usable launch vehicle was crucial for Indian space research and would reduce the cost drastically.

He said that usually the cost of launching a satellite was Rs 300 crore. “Of that, only 20 per cent is the propellant cost, the rest is hardware which falls into the sea,” said Sivan.

What the agency is planning is a launch vehicle that will return and land like an aircraft rather than falling into the sea. “If successful, this would reduce the cost of space exploration as we can reuse the same hardware again to launch the satellite,” said Sivan. “If successful, the cost of launching space missions would come down by 80 per cent,” he said.

However, to develop a re-usable launch vehicle, India would need 20 to 30 critical technology breakthroughs. Some of these include thermal protection system, mission management where the aircraft can be flown pilotless, Sivan added.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/cit...oser-to-reality/2015/09/26/article3047929.ece


Bottom line: we are far from it. 20-30 critical technology breakthrough means 2-3 years before any testing can be done.
 

no smoking

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What the agency is planning is a launch vehicle that will return and land like an aircraft rather than falling into the sea. “If successful, this would reduce the cost of space exploration as we can reuse the same hardware again to launch the satellite,” said Sivan. “If successful, the cost of launching space missions would come down by 80 per cent,” he said.

However, to develop a re-usable launch vehicle, India would need 20 to 30 critical technology breakthroughs. Some of these include thermal protection system, mission management where the aircraft can be flown pilotless, Sivan added.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/cit...oser-to-reality/2015/09/26/article3047929.ece
Only "20 to 30 critical technology breakthroughs" needed to develop such a vehicle?
Is this gentleman trying to fool everyone? The most advanced space power-U.S.A does not even have a detailed plan to such an ambitious vehicle. How could he be so sure?
 

pmaitra

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Only "20 to 30 critical technology breakthroughs" needed to develop such a vehicle?
Is this gentleman trying to fool everyone? The most advanced space power-U.S.A does not even have a detailed plan to such an ambitious vehicle. How could he be so sure?
How many critical technologies are required? Why don't you tell us?

The most advanced space power developed the space shuttle, which proved to be too risky and too expensive to operate, and the world has gone back to the 60s designed Soyuz. The American way of development is to bloat their requirements so as to extract as much budget allocation as possible. The Indian way is to extract maximum performance out of minimum investment.
 

Indx TechStyle

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@Indx TechStyle Is there any new development in this program that you know of ??
You already posted what I all know. Though, it may lead to development of a hypersonic glide vehicle with speed in range of Mach 12; similar to USA, Russia and PRC operate.
IMO, just like Ballistic missiles, ISRO's Scramjet Technology has a role in it.;)
 

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