ISRO's Reusable Launch Vehicles

[pmaitra]

oh gosh you mean they didnt even get the block diagram right ? !!

That is what I think. The shuttle at the bottom of the rocket, in the picture with a blue background, sure looks like in error.

 

[plugwater]

Saya, First picture shows the shuttle landing and in the second picture the shuttle is being dropped in sea using parachute(Most probably)

 

[pmaitra]

Saya, First picture shows the shuttle landing and in the second picture the shuttle is being dropped in sea using parachute(Most probably)

Thanks for pointing that out. I wonder why they would have to pursue an aquatic landing for the shuttle? Since form follows function, should it not land on a runway?

 

[plugwater]

Thanks for pointing that out. I wonder why they would have to pursue an aquatic landing for the shuttle? Since form follows function, should it not land on a runway?

Weird logic to show the shuttle landing in the sea, the picture must be wrong. I think we will choose the parachute landing.

 

[Godless-Kafir]

What this means is the Cryogenic stage will have a Shuttle like body and ability to carry crew? It would at least bring down costs, when you reuse and expensive engine like the CE-20 engine.

 

[plugwater]

PSLV not GSLV will be used to send this shuttle to LEO with 1000kg payload.

GK, You are talking about human space program, in that Orbital vehicle and its crew will only return safely all the other things(GSLV launch vehicle) will be dumped into the sea.

 

[roma]

Orbital vehicle and its crew will only return safely all the other things(GSLV launch vehicle) will be dumped into the sea.

isnt that quite a waste - to dump the gslv into the ocean ? do other countries also do likewise ? praps india could do better than them in the future i hope - by somehow saving at least part of the gslv . i guess some ot it would be burnt on arrival thru atmosphere though

 

[sanjay]

Look, the developmental experiments (LEX, REX. HEX, SPEX, etc) leading upto RLV are not the same as the mission profile for the envisioned TSTO (the picture diagram I posted). Please do not compare apples and oranges.

Naturally, the developmental flights will not look like the final vehicle, since the developmental flights are each only testing a specific aspect of what the full final product will do. Does GSLV-Mk2 look anything like GSLV-Mk3? Of course not.

TSTO is a vehicle for the far future, and is not the RLV-TechnologyDemonstrator.

 

[plugwater]

isnt that quite a waste - to dump the gslv into the ocean ? do other countries also do likewise ? praps india could do better than them in the future i hope - by somehow saving at least part of the gslv . i guess some ot it would be burnt on arrival thru atmosphere though

Everytime we launch a satellite we dump the launch vehicle into the sea, Its the cost we have to pay for putting a satellite in its orbit. Yes, Every country does the same thing not only us.
In future we are trying to put the smaller satellites in LEO using reusable launch vehicle to bring down its launch cost. We may or maynot achieve this goal!!

 

[plugwater]

Does GSLV-Mk2 look anything like GSLV-Mk3?

They do not look same because both of them are different launch vehicles. Mk-2 is not a TD of Mk-3.

 

[sandeepdg]

Any body had heard any thing new in the ISRO space shuttle program ?? I don't think much is happening on this front..

 

[sanjay]

They do not look same because both of them are different launch vehicles. Mk-2 is not a TD of Mk-3.

Yes, Mk-2 is indeed testing some of the technologies for Mk-3, such as the Cryogenic Upper Stage. So Mk-2 is indeed a forerunner and a platform to validate the technologies used for Mk-3. The fact that Mk-2 is used to launch useful payloads does not take away from this, because India always tries to launch useful payloads instead of dummy ones anyway.

 

[SLASH]

i wish one day all nations would come together and learn from each other rather than be secretive about space technology. Resources would be shared and less time will be wasted.

 

[sayareakd]

Isro.Us | Launch Vehicles - RLV-TD

Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) is a first step towards realizing a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) fully re-usable launch vehicle, a series of technology demonstration missions have been conceived. For this purpose a Winged Reusable Launch Vehicle technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) has been configured. The RLV-TD will act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies viz., hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion. First in the series of demonstration trials is the hypersonic flight experiment (HEX).

The RLV has been conceived by ISRO as a space launch system that will significantly cut down launch cost from the present level of around $12,000 / kg. ISRO displayed a scale model of the RLV-TD at Aero India 2009. The RLV will possess wings and tail fins, and will be launched atop a 9 ton solid booster called S-9, similar to the ones on the PSLV.

ISRO plans to achieve RLV capability in several phases:

HEX (Hypersonic Flight Experiment)
LEX (Landing Experiment)
REX (Return Flight Experiment)
SPEX (Scramjet Propulsion Experiment)
Re-entry Technology Development
In the first phase, which is currently underway, ISRO will develop re-entry technology, which will cover issues like precise control of the angle of entry into the atmosphere, materials technology to minimize the chance of burn-up at the high temperatures generated during re-entry, and control of the spacecraft to ensure its landing at the desired spot on the ground. In the first trial-flight in 2010, the RLV will not be recovered from sea because it will not be cost-effective to do so. ISRO will instead use telemetry data data on the re-entry, deceleration and return.

A follow-up mission, SRE 2, is planned in the 2010-11 time frame. During the mission, the booster rocket will take the RLV to a specific altitude, release the RLV and fall into the sea. On re-entry into the earth's atmosphere, the RLV will land in the sea, to be recovered.

RLV Runway Recovery
In the second phase, RLV will then re-enter the atmosphere at hypersonic speed and use aerodynamic breaking to decelerate. It will be brought to a gliding, unpowered cruise speed of about 0.8 mach, and slowed down further to make a horizontal landing.

In January 2007 ISRO launched Space Recover Experiment (SRE), a 1,212-pound (550-kg) space capsule into orbit, along with Cartosat-2, using a PSLV. It then deorbited the SRE and successfully guided it to a splash down in the Bay of Bengal, validating manned flight re-entry technology.

Scramjet Power
Eventually, the RLV will be powered by an air breathing scram jet. It is hoped that RLV technology will mature by 2015 by which time the solid rocket booster used as the first state will also be recovered and reused. The RLV and the rocket booster will be separately recovered, with the former making a conventional landing on a runway and booster making a parachute landing.

Unlike NASA's Space Shuttle, which powers itself into orbit around the earth and subsequently de-orbits and re-enters the atmosphere to glide back to a landing, ISRO's RLV is not designed to enter orbit. It is a pure launcher. Not a spacecraft cum launcher. It will loft a satellite into orbit and immediately re-enter the atmosphere and glide back for a conventional landing.

Advanced Technology Vehicle - Scramjet Development Flight

In an attempt to make its rockets lighter and carry heavier satellites, the Indian space agency is planning to flight test by the end of this year its own air-breathing engine that will use atmospheric oxygen as fuel. Air-breathing engines use atmospheric oxygen and burn it with the stored on-board fuel to generate the onward thrust. Conventional rockets carry both oxygen and chemical fuel on board.

On March 3rd 2010, ISRO conducted the first unpowered flight test of the Scramjet engine that it is developing under the RLV technology demonstrator program. The test was conducted at Sriharikota space-port using a sounding rocket and described by ISRO as a complete success.

The Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV) - D01 booster combination weighed 3 tons. The rocket reached an altitude of 46km in 120 seconds (two minutes) and the entire flight duration was 240 seconds (four minutes). The booster accelerated the passive scramjet to Mach 6 and sustained Mach 6 +.05 and dynamic pressure (80 + 35 kPa) for seven seconds. These conditions are required for a stable ignition of active scramjet engine combustor module planned in the next flight of ATV.

ISRO plans to do a series of ground tests of the air breathing engine before the planned year end launch of the ATV-D02. A second developmental test flight is planned by the end of 2010.

A scramjet consists of a tube through which inlet air is compressed by the high speed of the vehicle, a chamber where fuel is combusted, and a nozzle through which the exhaust jet leaves at higher speed than the inlet air. Jet engines use a compressor to squeeze air into the engine, then spray fuel into the compressed air and ignite it to produce thrust by funnelling it through the back.

The advantage of air breathing engine is that it makes the rocket lighter - as oxygen is not carried - enabling it to carry heavier satellites. Further, it reduces the cost of launch and will help make ISRO a very cost competitive player in the global satellite launch industry. However, as air breathing engine systems can operate only during the atmospheric phase of flight, they will have to be adapted along with the conventional chemical rockets.

Target Completion Date
It is hoped that RLV technology will mature by 2015 by which time the solid rocket booster used as the first state will also be recovered and reused.

 

[Parthy]

ISRO is doing a fair job when compared to our other R&D agencies like DRDO, ADA etc...

 

[Godless-Kafir]

PSLV not GSLV will be used to send this shuttle to LEO with 1000kg payload.

GK, You are talking about human space program, in that Orbital vehicle and its crew will only return safely all the other things(GSLV launch vehicle) will be dumped into the sea.

Then what is this shuttle for? Isn't it to carry Humans?

 

[plugwater]

Yes, Mk-2 is indeed testing some of the technologies for Mk-3, such as the Cryogenic Upper Stage. So Mk-2 is indeed a forerunner and a platform to validate the technologies used for Mk-3. The fact that Mk-2 is used to launch useful payloads does not take away from this, because India always tries to launch useful payloads instead of dummy ones anyway.

Mk-2 and 3 have different cryogenic engine. I think every other boosters are different too.

Then what is this shuttle for? Isn't it to carry Humans?

It is to carry satellites to LEO.

 

[plugwater]

Isro to have reusable launch rocket in 2 yrs

Indian space scientists are designing a new genre of rockets and their variants, including a re-usable one, to hoist heavy satellites into space.

One such project involves integration of semi-cryogenic and cryogenic engines along with boosters to launch satellites weighing up to six tons, says Dr K. Radhakrishnan, chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro). "We are in the process of developing a high thrust engine. Our vision is to have a unified launch vehicle with a semi-cryogenic lower stage, and a cryogenic upper stage along with strap-on boosters. It will be used for different masses of payload, and designed to launch up to six tonnes," he said.
Dr Radhakrishnan said studies have been initiated on the re-usable launch vehicle (RLV) with plans for a lift-off of the technology demonstrator in two years. "We have to understand a gamut of technologies and also prove many new systems. We have to study the aerodynamics of a winged body, the auto pilot, the aero-thermo dynamics, thermal protection system, the de-boost operations for re-entry, navigation and guidance to land precisely on the ground. Of course, some of the lessons learnt from the space shuttle will be incorporated in this vehicle," he added.
Along with the RLV, Isro would also test air-breathing technology using a scramjet fitted on a sounding rocket in the next couple of years.
Dr Radhakrishnan said the workhorse PSLV, scheduled for another flight on July 15, could well carve a niche for itself in the international market as it has already placed 26 foreign satellites in orbit. Indications are that we have good vehicle for one ton remote sensing and scientific satellites, he said.

Isro to have reusable launch rocket in 2 yrs | The Asian Age

 

[Godless-Kafir]

Currently we dont have technology to build an reliable cryo stage, i would take this comment by Radhakrishnan with a barrel of salt.

 

[sayareakd]

watch NDTV video

Soon, India to have its own space shuttle

New Delhi: The Americans recently retired their one of the most successful space shuttles, the Atlantis. Now, India is working towards realising its dream - to create a re-usable satellite launch vehicle.

An engineering model of what scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) call the re-usable launch vehicle, is currently housed at a secure and secret facility in Kerala. Covered with special heat resistant tiles, soon it will roar skywards.

"We are dreaming about a fully re-usable vehicle, there are several elements we need to understand as of now we have a technology demonstrator," said Dr K Radhakrishnan, Chairman, ISRO.

The unmanned Indian space shuttle will be initially launched vertically like a rocket and in the first few flights it will be dropped back into the sea, but later it will make a landing like any other aircraft.

The Americans have retired the space shuttle as it was just too expensive to fly, the Russian version called Buran was abandoned almost 20 years ago, but India - the new kid on the space block - is forging ahead with its plans to launch an Indian shuttle in a few years.

ISRO feels this technology will drastically reduce the cost of launching satellites to space. Indeed ISRO is dreaming big.


Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/soon-india-to-have-its-own-space-shuttle-123239&cp