Article

2007-08-15 Science & Technology

India plans first reusable spacecraft flight by 2010

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Posted by Mike 2007-08-15 09:04|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 No ISRO program has ever launched on schedule.. it will probably be 2012 or so before the HSTV is launched.
This will be a small unmanned, winged vehicle with a Scramjet engine

Posted by john frum 2007-08-15 12:13|| 2007-08-15 12:13|| Front Page Top

#2 The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)has given details of ongoing work for its 2009 reusable launch vehicle demonstrator suborbital flight.

Launched on a 11.5m (38.3ft)-tall solid rocket booster and using 9,000kg (4,090lb) of propellant, the X-37-like 1,400kg vehicle is 6.5m long with a 3.6m wingspan. Flight apogee will be 67km (42 miles) and it has a downrange of 650km. The vehicle will splash down in the Indian Ocean.

To model the mission, ISRO has developed six degrees of freedom simulation software to encompass all the environmental conditions and flight dynamics. A scale model of the test vehicle's nosecone, with nine air ports for sensors to aid flight control, will be built for windtunnel tests.

The solid rocket booster is an existing design modified for this task. "The grain has to be modified to reduce the maximum dynamic pressure," says ISRO Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre's Ramesh Narayanan, speaking at the second European Conference for Aerospace Sciences in Brussels.

The booster will use its four control fins' adjustable tips to regulate ascent. The test vehicle will use a reaction control system to modify its attitude to descend initially at a 35° to 45° angle of attack. During flight, the vehicle will experience its greatest thermal load - 40W/cm2 (101.6W/in2) - 100s after launch.

For flight control within the atmosphere during descent, the vehicle has a body flap at the rear, a rudder on each of its two tail fins, and outer and inner ailerons. The rudders and ailerons both have a maximum deflection of +/-30°. The rudders will be used as speed brakes.

Posted by john frum 2007-08-15 12:15|| 2007-08-15 12:15|| Front Page Top

#3 ISRO's proposed test vehicle

Posted by john frum 2007-08-15 12:20|| 2007-08-15 12:20|| Front Page Top

#4 The DRDOis also working on a Scramjet vehicle (for military uses)

Posted by john frum 2007-08-15 12:22|| 2007-08-15 12:22|| Front Page Top

#5 Collaboration with Israel too...

Posted by john frum 2007-08-15 12:28|| 2007-08-15 12:28|| Front Page Top

#7 Cool beans. Gotta keep those Chicom knickers in a twist.

Posted by xbalanke 2007-08-15 18:05|| 2007-08-15 18:05|| Front Page Top

#8 That HTV looks like George Jetson's car...

Posted by tu3031 2007-08-15 18:52|| 2007-08-15 18:52|| Front Page Top

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