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| India-Pakistan |
| India Develops Advanced Rocket Engine |
| 2003-12-06 |
| India said Friday it has developed a rocket engine that uses supercooled liquid fuel, a technology that would allow it to launch high-altitude satellites, send a man to the moon - or build intercontinental ballistic missiles. The engine proved its endurance by firing for nearly 17 minutes on the ground, the Indian Space Research Organization said in a statement. In a typical flight, the engine would need to burn only for about 12 minutes. Flight time to Karachi, 2 minutes. Flight time to Beijing, 5 minutes. Such engines, known as "cryogenic" engines, are fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Rockets using these materials are primarily used to launch 2.5-ton communications satellites to orbits 22,000 miles above the earth. At that altitude, they match the speed of the rotating Earth and therefore stay fixed at one point above the ground. Only a few countries - including the United States, Russia and France - can build cryogenic engines. "It is a great milestone. I was never in doubt it would happen and I am happy it has happened now," said Rakesh Sharma, who traveled on a Russian spacecraft in 1984, becoming India’s first man in space. Sharma said the technology was "crucial to the ultimate moon shot," alluding to India’s plan to send a manned mission to the moon before 2015. They or the Chinese might get there before we get back. The advance could also give India the ability to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. India has nuclear weapons and tested them in 1974 and 1998. India developed a rudimentary form of its cryogenic technology in 2001 and several tests were held after that to fine-tune it. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 I worked out in the missile patch around McConnell for three years. The payload didn't bother me, but the fuel scared the crap out of me. Titan IIs used Nitrogen Tetroxide for a oxidizer and Aerozine-50 as fuel. A-50 is a 50/50 mix of Hydrazine and UDMH. The oxidizer and fuel are hyperbolic, they ignite when mixed. They would also turn your lungs to water and cause your eyeballs to melt. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-12-6 9:54:40 PM |
| #1 I'm not familiar with any hydrogen LOX ICBMs. I guess the Atlas was the last US ICBM to use liquid oxygen... doesn't exactly store well. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-6 8:38:31 AM |