ISRO's Reusable Launch Vehicles

[AnantS]

@pmaitra There are good interview/articles in Frontline mag(links posted in nasaspaceflight) and according to it, the current RLV isgoing to undergo radical changes. A(dvanced)RLV-TD, The winged body is going to be first stage and not last stage. as described by ISRO chairman in the interview.

 

[pmaitra]

@pmaitra There are good interview/articles in Frontline mag(links posted in nasaspaceflight) and according to it, the current RLV isgoing to undergo radical changes. A(dvanced)RLV-TD, The winged body is going to be first stage and not last stage. as described by ISRO chairman in the interview.

Looks like they are trying to recover the first stage, which currently simply falls off.

 

[AnantS]

^ And also aid the second stage to reach higher orbit.

 

[pmaitra]

^ And also aid the second stage to reach higher orbit.

Will it be to LEO or GEO/GTO? Do you have any details on it?

 

[Akask kumar]

Will it be to LEO or GEO/GTO? Do you have any details on it?

it will be LEO coz RLV is desgined for smaller payloads..ISRO want to increase the freq in low earth orbit.. good for future Indian space station mission. and it is said satellite in future will be smaller and efficinet . this shift in space satellite manufacturing came after chinese destroyed one their satellites using missile.. so if target is smaller u cant hit it..

 

[AnantS]

@pmaitra It will be LEO and possibly GTO. I remember an inforgraphic from ISRO depicting same. I will post if I find that link again. In the second case(GTO), the second stage would be non recoverable. Hence the clever decision to make first stage as winged, and thus avoid loosing expensive winged stage

 

[Indx TechStyle]

ISRO gears up to test scramjet engine in July

 

[Akask kumar]

http://thewire.in/46781/isro-clears-pslv-to-launch-sats-into-multiple-orbits/

peaking of reducing launch costs, another important test is to be conducted soon – of the scramjet engine being developed by ISRO for its own reusable launch vehicle. Though the engine won’t yet power a full-fledged flight in the test, VSSC’s K. Sivan has said that a smaller version of it will be installed on a sounding rocket to get it going at 6-8 times the speed of sound. In a conventional rocket, an engine is supplied with oxygen from a tank that the rocket carries in order to combust the fuel. A scramjet, on the other hand, is a type of engine that sucks in oxygen from the atmosphere itself, and that too at hypersonic velocities. So, as Sivan went on to say: “What we wish to demonstrate is hypersonic ignition and sustainability of combustion at high Mach numbers. We also want to see whether we are getting the expected thrust value.”

The reusable launch vehicle that a scramjet proper will eventually power hasn’t yet been built. On May 23, ISRO experimented with a scaled-down version of the vehicle to check if the heat-resistant tiles installed on it performed as they ought to and if the onboard computer was able to manoeuvre the flight without major errors. In the next test, a date for which hasn’t been announced, ISRO will drop the vehicle from an airplane so the former can execute a runway landing.

A working vehicle is expected to be ready only around 2030. It will be able to lift between 10,000 kg and 20,000 kg to the low-Earth orbit. Apart from a scramjet, the vehicle may be powered by five semi-cryogenic enginesas well as might be made of lighter materials. Altogether, ISRO expects all efforts to culminate with a reduction in launch costs by a factor of 10. It pays to consider this number in context: by 2030, the organisation will face stiffer competition from its peers around the world in terms of lowering the cost of access to space as well as in payload capacity (e.g., Elon Musk expects to land humans on Mars by 2024).

 

[Prashant12]

India’s Dream Space Vehicle RLV to hit the space sooner than planned




ISRO details its plans to unveil Dream Space Vehicle RLV
Encouraged and enthused by the success of the “test flight” of the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) held at Satish Dhavan Space Centre, Sreeharikotta on May 23, 2016, scientists and engineers of Indian Space Research Organisation have decided to go ahead with the next mission sooner than that was decided earlier. The RLV technology has become a game changer of the country’s space research as the team which developed the vehicle ‘hit the bull’s eye’ with the first test flight itself, according to Shyam Mohan, project director, Team RLV.

Shyam Mohan, an aero- space specialist, told PGurus that the RLV-TD worked as per the “story board” scripted by the team members. “The next stage in the development of the reusable vehicle was to conduct another test and make the vehicle land on a pre-determined spot like a specially developed runway akin to an airport. We may need a runway of 3.5 length and were planning to construct one at Satish Dhavan Space Centre at Sriharikotta itself. But chances are that we may go ahead with the second test fight of the RLV and use one of the existing runways in the country,” said Shyam Mohan, who has a masters in engineering (IIT Madras) and Ph D from IIT Bombay.

What made ISRO to speed up the second ‘test flight’ of the RLV was the performance of the RLV-TD flown on May 23 which worked as per the “script”prepared by Shyam Mohan and team. “This is a rare feat. The mission which lasted for 200 seconds was a flawless operation as per the analysis held by us during the last couple of weeks,” said Shyam Mohan.

The winged rocket (that’s how Shyam Mohan describes RLV) had a length of 6.5 meters and had a wingspan of 3.6 meters. It weighed 1665 kg. “An HS-9 booster rocket powered by solid propellant was used to take the RLV to a pre-determined height. The RLV-TD was integrated to the booster rocket and the taking off looked like the vertical take- off of an aircraft . The booster rocket fired for almost 92 seconds and it took the RLV to a height of 30.2 km. Once the booster rocket completed the burning at the end of the 92 seconds, the RLV blasted off from that point at a speed which was more than 5 Mach (more than five times the speed of sound, in a lay man’s language),” explained Shyam Mohan and R Purushothaman Nair, one of his colleagues.

The RLV flew for 90 seconds at a speed of 5 Mach and when it reached a height of 65.39 km, the speed was decelerated as per the command given from the control room and it started its downward journey, described by Shyam Mohan as the most crucial phase of the mission. “We brought down the speed of the RLV from Mach 5 to that of an ordinary aircraft. When it entered the earth’s surface, the speed was a mere 121.4 meter per second,.” Said Shyam Mohan.

The RLV entered the earth’s orbit as per the instructions and guidance issued by the control cum guidance system of Team RLV-TD. “It landed at a spot 420 km east of Bay of Bengal and the landing was similar to that of an ordinary aircraft. This encouraged us and we are going ahead with the second mission and you will be able to see the next RLV landing on one of the runways in the country. All we need is a 2.5 km long runway,” said Shyam Mohan.

The May 23 experiment was the culmination of 11 years of perseverance and industrious work by Shyam Mohan and colleagues. “It all started in 2004 with the then space commission chairman G Madhavan Nair giving the go ahead for the RLV project. We could convince him that the satellite launch expenses could be brought down to unbelievable rates. Presently, 90 per cent of each launch is to develop the launch vehicle which burns up at the end of each launch. The fuel and other components cost hardly 10 per cent of the launch. Once the RLV becomes fully operational, we can bring down the launch bill and more and more countries will approach us for launching the spacecraft developed by them,” said Shyam Mohan.

Madhavan Nair said the RLV would have become fully operational by this time had the ISRO went ahead with mission with urgency. “But there was a lull after 2009 and many projects were put into the back burner by my successor. If one checks the number of space missions undertook by ISRO during this period you can understand it. We still lag behind by almost six years. But Shyam and his team has done a wonderful job,” said Nair.

https://www.pgurus.com/indias-dream-space-vehicle-rlv-hit-space-sooner-planned/

 

[sayareakd]

we need to increase its size, add the landing gear to it, plus cargo bay with robotic hand. At least next test should be of half the original size, as they have planned in future.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Rajya Sabha hails ISRO for reusable launch vehicle
In yet another achievement, ISRO scripted history by successfully launching 20 satellites together including India's earth observation Cartosat-2 series satellite from Sriharikota.
BY: PTI | NEW DELHI |Updated: July 18, 2016 2:19 PM

Rajya Sabha hailed ISRO on Monday for successfully flight testing the Re-usable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), India’s first winged aerospace vehicle capable of returning to the Earth after a space flight.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had flight tested the RLV-TD from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on May 23.

The development of this technology for sending spacecraft and satellites into orbit and returning to the earth’s surface at the intended spot withstanding extreme pressure and heat conditions has added yet another significant milestone in the success story of India’s space programme, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari said.

Related

• ISRO's historic 20-satellite launch: Who said what
• India's RLV-TD reusable space shuttle launch: All you need to know
• RLV: India's first reusable space shuttle

In yet another achievement, ISRO scripted history by successfully launching 20 satellites together including India’s earth observation Cartosat-2 series satellite from Sriharikota.

“The credit of both these landmark achievements goes to our scientific community working with ISRO,” Ansari said, as members thumped benches to congratulate scientists, engineers and technicians associated with these projects.

Ansari expressed hope that ISRO will continue to scale greater heights and make the country proud.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

First from Nepal, now Saudi Source.
There are plenty of articles from large countries like US, Russia and even China for our program.
Taking baby steps towards reusable space shuttle

INDIAN Space Research Organization (ISRO), since its inception in 1972, has been experimenting with various fields associated with space sciences and rocket technologies. The key focus of the organization is to ensure that India derives maximum benefits from its space programs for its socio-economic development. As the country is essentially an agricultural economy, the emphasis of Indian space programs is more towards receiving meteorological inputs, tracking various weather systems from Indian monsoon to movement of tropical storms, getting correct and relevant information for land and water resources management and knowing more about forest and other resources. Also, for all these years, India has been launching satellites for communications purposes and recently established its own regional navigational system.

Apart from focusing on core areas like meteorology, remote sensing, communication and navigation, ISRO focuses on areas with long-term scientific, technological and strategic relevance. To understand more about the planetary system, India has successfully undertaken missions to moon and Mars. Similarly, to know more about galaxies, the country has launched an astronomical satellite. Apart from this, India is keen on developing systems, which would allow reducing the cost for launching satellites, to have the capability to launch satellites on demand and to prepare themselves for human missions to space. In order to develop this capability, India has taken a first step towards developing a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology.

On May 23, 2016, ISRO successfully launched the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD). This launch could be considered a step in the direction of launching a winged body, a spacecraft with delta wings, in future. It is the first step towards realizing the dream of developing an indigenous space shuttle. It may take around 10 years more to have a usable and operational space shuttle. The RLV — 6.5 m long — was launched by ISRO using a nine ton Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) which burned slowly for accommodating the vertical lifting of this winged body. It took five years for the team of 600 scientists at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in Thiruvananthapuram to build this body that weighed around 1.75 tons. It is to be noted that normal space shuttles are around 55 m long and weigh more than 2,030 tons.

Indian RLV was flown up to 70 km and made to fall in the ocean (land on a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal) on its return. Theoretically, such vehicles should land on runways and for any fully developed space shuttle, a 5 km long runway is required. ISRO had three main objectives for this RLV launch: to test the characterization of the aero-thermo dynamics of hypersonic flights; to test the autonomous mission management of hypersonic vehicles; and to test the necessary re-entry technology for the vehicles. All these objectives were achieved. During this test, ISRO tested guiding and navigational techniques and collected information that would assist them to design future missions.

ISRO is expected to move in a systematic fashion for actual realization of this idea. They are expected to conduct tests like LEX (Landing Experiment), REX (Return Flight Experiment) and SPEX (Scramjet Propulsion Experiment) in the coming few years. Also, a separate runway, along with a standby runway at a different location, would be required to be built.

Like all other ISRO programs, this one also appears to be well thought of and ISRO would move in a systematic fashion to realize this dream. However, the time period for realization of this program is too long. It may take more than a decade to have an operational RLV available. The question is, can India afford to wait? Today, privatization of space is happening in a big way. There are a few private players who have support of agencies like NASA and European Space Agency, and are making quick inroad in the space sector.

The global demand for launching of satellites is rapidly increasing. ISRO has made remarkable progress in the area and launched 74 satellites on commercial terms for various countries. Now, India is proposing to increase the frequency of the launches by having more Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) missions. However, this would cater only partially. It is important to have RLV technology in place at the earliest. For this purpose, the Government would be required to increase the budget of ISRO and the organization needs to engage international partners and develop a model for active participation of domestic industry.

SOURCE: SAUDI GAZETTE

TAGS:

• INDIA
• INDIA INDEPENDENCE DAY
• INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANIZATION
• ISRO

 

[Indx TechStyle]

ISRO Successfully Conducts Scramjet Engine Test Today

Chennai: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully conducted scramjet engine test today at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh around 80 km from Chennai.

http://m.ndtv.com/india-news/isro-to-test-scramjet-engine-on-sunday-1451043
@Akask kumar @rishivashista13 @salute

 

[rishivashista13]

Please provide more details and video as available to anyone .

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[rishivashista13]

ISRO Successfully Conducts Scramjet Engine Test Today

http://m.ndtv.com/india-news/isro-to-test-scramjet-engine-on-sunday-1451043
@Akask kumar @rishivashista13 @salute

Now we will use this Scramjet for our space program as well as for missile program . Great !

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[Indx TechStyle]

Now we will use this Scramjet for our space program as well as for missile program . Great !

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We already have in missiles.

Please provide more details and video as available to anyone .

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Not released on official website yet. I'll post when released.

 

[rishivashista13]

We already have in missiles.

Not released on official website yet. I'll post when released.

भाई , which missile uses Scramjet engine ?
Bhramos 2 is still under development .

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[pmaitra]

Scramjet is still in development phase. There is no report of any flight test.

Latest from DRDO (Updated on 06th June 2016):

Source: http://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/labs/DRDL/English/index.jsp?pg=achieve.jsp

 

[rishivashista13]

DRDO and ISRO are working individually on there own Scramjet engines . Is it true ?

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[pmaitra]

DRDO and ISRO are working individually on there own Scramjet engines . Is it true ?

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Maybe, but when it comes to missiles, I would expect it to be under DRDO, not ISRO. Your question was about missile.