ISRO's Reusable Launch Vehicles

[Mikesingh]

Wind tunnel testing of miniature RLV

Wind tunnel testing of miniature RLV

We've reached Mars but is it too technical to get these goddamn walls painted?
Jeeez! Just goes to show a 'sab chaltha hai' attitude.

 

[salute]

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[salute]

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[Indx TechStyle]

ISRO Races Billionaires To Master Re-Usable Technology For Space Flights

Story Highlights

• India's first re-usable spacecraft, the RLV, will soon take a test flight
• It's pitted against SpaceX's Falcon 9 & Blue Origin's New Shephard rocket
• Both companies have already partially tested re-usable space shuttles

Sriharikota: India's first re-usable spacecraft will soon take a test flight and will be pitted against the likes of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Blue Origin's New Shephard rocket, in a race to master re-usable technology for space shuttles.

Even before India's frugal winged space shuttle, the RLV, is launch-ready, it faces stiff competition from aerospace manufacturers floated by world's top billionaires and supported by NASA - Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin. Both the companies have already partially tested re-usable space shuttles.

SpaceX has been able to land its Falcon-9 rocket onto a sea-based platform while Blue Origin landed its New Shepard rocket on land in Texas, USA.

Dr Jean-Yves Le Gall, President, French Space Agency in Paris told NDTV, "I think reusable technology is quite promising. We have to see what will go in the future but all important space players today must have capabilities of reusable technology. And this is exactly what India is going to do."

Today it costs about $ 20,000 to send a kilogram in space but with re-usable technology engineers want to make space affordable by bringing the cost down by ten times.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

ISRO readies to give India’s space shuttle ambition wings

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is racing the monsoon to launch its Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) from the Sriharikota space port next week. “We are looking at May 23 as a tentative date for the launch, provided atmospheric conditions are favourable,” says Devi Prasad Karnik. “The RLV-TD’s first test was scheduled last year, but it was postponed due to technical reasons.” The size of a big sedan, the RLV’s prototype resembles NASA’s iconic Space Shuttle. And ISRO would hope it flies like one, too. The problem with the launch systems of today is that once launched, a booster rocket cannot be re-used. Since nearly 70% cost of any space launch vehicle lies in its structure and avionics, RLVs are ideal to minimise payload cost as they could be recovered, refurbished and reused.

Read | ISRO all set to launch indigenous version of space shuttle

If all goes well, ISRO's winged spaceplane will be launched by an expendable single stage solid fuel booster, which powers the spacecraft to Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound) and an altitude of 70 km in five minutes. The RLV-TD then uses its fin and wing controls to glide a bit before starting its descent, touching Mach 5 again, and landing in the Bay of Bengal. Elapsed time from lift-off: 20 minutes. The trickiest part of the flight is the spacecraft’s re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere: Come in too steeply, and it burns up; approach at too shallow an angle, and it skids off the atmosphere, spinning out into space. It is also a huge challenge for spaceflight engineers to deal with the heat generated by friction as the spacecraft plunges through the atmosphere. So the RLV-TD has a ‘blunt’ nose, which, unlike needle-noses, forms a thick shockwave ahead of it to deflect heat and slow the spacecraft more efficiently.

This is the first of a series of technology demonstration flights each of which will see the RLV being released from aircraft at increasingly greater heights, to eventually land on runways. Isro plans for an advanced version (six times larger than the RLV-TD) to fly sometime in the next 12 years. In the not -too-distant future conventional boosters like its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will make way for RLVs, whose low maintenance costs and quick turnaround times could cut launch costs to less than `10,000 per kg of payload (as compared to current costs touching `9,90,000 per kg).

Read | US has asked Isro to ‘pause’ launch of American satellites

But for this to happen, ISRO must seriously think of creating a private space industry in India (as Nasa and the European Space Agency did) so that entrepreneurs can step in and attract investments. Microsoft’s Paul Allen (Spaceship One), Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos (New Shepherd), and Elon Musk (SpaceX Falcon) are some prominent entrepreneurs who have poured billions of dollars into RLV research and made stunning progress.

Curiously, while the entry of private players has made the technical feasibility of RLVs less of an issue, the economic angle is now in sharper focus. How much, for instance, would low-cost frequent launches expand the market? And how often would an RLV need to be refurbished and re-launched to make its development cost worthwhile? Isro, though, has rightly decided to cross these bridges when it comes to them and seems focused on successfully developing its own RLV to cut satellite launch costs and give India a competitive edge in the launch market. And since the realisation of new markets like asteroid mining and space tourism depends on cutting the cost of space transportation, the RLV, clearly, holds the key.

 

[cobra commando]

Exclusive: Making Of India's Space Shuttle - The Inside Story

 

[ezsasa]

With a cyclone coming on east coast, will it still be possible for the launch to go on?

 

[Indx TechStyle]

With a cyclone coming on east coast, will it still be possible for the launch to go on?

That's why we are discussing ISRO vs the Monsoon. :biggrin2:

 

[A chauhan]

RLV-TD is going to be tested tomorrow I mean on 23rd, really exciting !!

 

[pmaitra]

NDTV - ISRO Embarks On Launching Indian Space Shuttle - RLV

They are saying it will "land" on a "virtual runway" in the Bay of Bengal.

They should have dropped it from an aircraft to test its landing capabilities on land. Alternatively, they could have attached external pods with small jet engines.

Buran test-landing

Space Shuttle flight test

The other possibility is that this RLV-TD could in future be scaled up for a large space shuttle.

BOR-5: The BOR-5 is a 1:8 Buran model used to test the aerodynamic characteristics of the Buran, it was in space on June, 27th 1987.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Re-usable launch vehicle to take off at 9.30am on Monday

An artistic impression of the vehicle.

BENGALURU: After several years of development work, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will, on Monday, launch the re-usable launch vehicle technology demonstrator (RLV-TD) 70-km from earth and hope to bring it back. A successful test launch, which has been postponed multiple times in the last two-and-a-half years, will go a long way in giving Isro a technology that will reduce the launch cost to one tenth of the present expenditure.

ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar had told TOI last month that all tests barring the acoustics test were already done and the vehicle — an aircraft like object that could fly out of the earth's atmosphere and come back — was to be moved to Sriharikota for the launch.

Officials in ISRO confirmed that the launch is scheduled for 9.30am on Monday. "The vehicle is already in Sriharikota and the launch has been scheduled for Monday morning. The only reason it can be postponed is if the weather in general and wind speed in particular is not conducive for the launch."

"Once launched, the vehicle will be guided by our scientists from ground stations and it will also be guided back to land about 500 km from the coast of Chennai," the official said.

"The vehicle, a prototype, is a scaled down version about one sixth the size of the intended demonstrator, which is why we need a perfect wind speed," an official explained.

The vehicle will be launched on a Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) booster, a version lower than the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The launch vehicle will weigh 90 tonne, while the RLV-TD weighs 300-kg.

The winged RLV-TD has been configured to act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies like hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and flight using air breathing propulsion towards realising a Two-Stage-to-Orbit (TSTO) fully reusable launch vehicle.

There are two advantages to this technology: It is a crucial part of the proposed manned mission of Isro and it will cut the cost of space launches to one tenth of the present cost.

The RLV-TD is part of the pre-launch testing of the proposed human space programme to be carried out for which the UPA-led government had sanctioned Rs 145 crore.

ISRO has already successfully completed the testing of the crew module, another important technology for the human space programme, last year.

Multiple use of vehicle
* Launch scheduled for 9.30am on Monday

* Isro will test a winged vehicle that'll go 70-km into space and come back

* It will be guided to land back in the Bay of Bengal 500-km from Chennai's coast

* Technology once proven will cut launch costs to 1/10th of present prices

* Design Theory of vehicle aims at multiple uses of vehicle

* No such technology presently exists anywhere in the world

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Excited to create India’s own space shuttle: ISRO chief Kiran Kumar
In an interview, ISRO Chairman Kiran Kumar explains the importance of the experimental Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), which is essentially an attempt by India to bring down the cost of making infrastructure in space.
By: PTI | New Delhi |

Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman Kiran Kumar (Express Photo by Ashwin Sadhu)

Weather and wind speeds permitting, an almost 11-ton rocket will lift off from rocket port Sriharikota Monday morning — the first time India is launching an indigenous Reusable Launch Vehicle.

In an interview, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman Kiran Kumar explains the importance of the experimental Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), which is essentially an attempt by India to bring down the cost of making infrastructure in space.

If reusable rockets become a reality, the cost of access to space may come down by 10 times.

Excerpts of the interview:
What is this RLV, or the Indian space shuttle?

See, the RLV is a mechanism for us to bring down the cost of launch. We intend to go through a series of technology demonstration exercises, first one of it, what we call HEX-01, that is a hypersonic experiment. It is called a winged body.

Therefore, we are designing for the first time a winged body, which will come back from space. It will be carried up on a solid rocket motor. In addition, this is the first of a series of experiments and we still have a long way to go till we reach the actual RLV, which will give us a tremendous capacity in terms of launching at a very low cost.

So essentially you will be launching from Sriharikota, and the RLV will land it somewhere in the Bay of Bengal?

Yes, the first experiment is like that, we will be launching from Sriharikota, and the plane like winged body will land in the ocean, in the Bay of Bengal. That is the first one, but then ultimately, the objective will be this winged body will come and land on the Sriharikota island.

So you will make a kind of a runway like one used to see for American space shuttles. So will we witness similar kinds of vehicles landing in Sriharikota in future?

Yes, ultimately, when it comes to the final stage, that is what will happen. This winged body will come back on to the land at Sriharikota.

Why is India indulging in this when the whole world has retired, nobody is attempting winged flights in a big way, why is ISRO going into this RLV technology?

No, ultimately our objective is to lower cost of access to space. We still believe that we have a very good opportunity to go through this research and achieve a significant reduction in the cost of the launch.

So making satellites cheaper for average users?

Yes, not only the satellites cheaper, but also all the space infrastructure what we have to build for various activities, our ability significantly increases because the overall cost comes down.

So this launch of RLV, are you excited by it?

Definitely we are excited by that, because there is a new set of activities which we are doing in terms of the aerodynamics, winged body, we have gone through a series of wind tunnel tests, and then there are a lot of new design approaches in this, and it also gives a tremendous amount of challenge to the designers and the engineers in the organisation.

Moreover, when the end result is going to be to bring down the cost of launch, we are all excited about that.

So pushing the frontier, is that what the reason?

Yes, definitely, it is pushing the frontier. And one needs to keep challenging the people within ISRO for achieving better results in this particular case, the better result is: how to bring down the cost of launch.

 

[Gessler]

A military development from these technologies could lead to us developing something like the X-37B space plane. Imagine the level of surveillance/spying characteristics that could deploy!

 

[Screambowl]

wings seem to be too short... i hope it glides.

 

[pmaitra]

Is there going to be an online live broadcast of the launch? If yes, can someone please post a link?

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Is there going to be an online live broadcast of the launch? If yes, can someone please post a link?

I guess DD News.
Anyway, I'm searching on ISRO's and VSSC's official websites.
Will immediately post if got.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

A military development from these technologies could lead to us developing something like the X-37B space plane. Imagine the level of surveillance/spying characteristics that could deploy!

Nice, we can get hypersonic delivery systems as well.

wings seem to be too short... i hope it glides.

Plan has changed.
It will not glide. It will crash and disintegrate into sea this time.
This time experiment for sending.
Next time for sending and bringing back safely.
Then, for return flight after one launch (reusability).
Then, scramjet engines will be tested to start full prototype testing.
So, that, it can lift humans in the space.

 

[sasum]

RLV-TD is the precursor to now shelved "Avatar", India's hyperplane. A lot depends upon the success of controlled landing of the module. For civilian use though, the vehicle has to acquire the capability of landing on a conventional runway. Feeling proud, not more thah 3 countries have achieved it.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

RLV-TD is the precursor to now shelved "Avatar", India's hyperplane.

It wasn't shelved. It was "put on hold".

 

[pmaitra]

RLV-TD is the precursor to now shelved "Avatar", India's hyperplane. A lot depends upon the success of controlled landing of the module. For civilian use though, the vehicle has to acquire the capability of landing on a conventional runway. Feeling proud, not more thah 3 countries have achieved it.

Three countries? There are only two countries that have achieved this, USA and USSR.