India on Monday launched a scale model of a reusable space shuttle using a rocket that will, in its final avatar, launch satellites at a fraction of the current cost.
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The project, which began more than a decade ago at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, costs about Rs 95 crore.
Though the United States and Russian Federation have launched reusable vehicles in the past, this is the first time India has done something of this sort via innovative means.
Space expert Pallava Bagla, who writes for science magazines, said the test paves the way for India to embark on low-priced space missions.
India’s 1.75-ton (about 3,500 pounds) spacecraft flew to a 70-kilometer (about 43 miles) altitude, and then engaged in a free-gliding flight starting with an initial velocity five times that of sound.
India has become the latest nation to attempt to build a reusable space shuttle.
Counties including Japan and Russian Federation have joined private companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX in building reusable space rockets, and now India is the latest country to step up to the challenge.
The nine-metre-long rocket took off without a hitch from ISRO’s rocket launch center at Sriharikota. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) proclaimed it “mission accomplished” 20 minutes post-liftoff.
I offer my congratulations to the Scientists, Engineers and Technicians of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the successful test of the RLV-TD, Ansari said.
India isn’t the only one working to develop reusable rockets. The mini-shuttle landed in the Bay of Bengal on its way back, about 500 Km from the coast. It has been configured to act as a flying testbed to evaluate various technologies, including hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air-breathing propulsion, it said. Nasa’s Space Shuttle was retired in 2011, while Russia’s shuttle programme ended shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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In 2013, India launched its Mars Orbiter Mission, sending a satellite to enter the Red Planet’s orbit.
