India is engaged in the reusable rocket game.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has unveiled plans to develop this decade of reusable rocket launch technology, according to a report by SpaceNews.
In a “New Year’s message for 2021“” ISRO Chairman K. Sivan has announced the agency’s goals for the 2020s in the context of the growing space industry. The “space sector is facing disruption due to the entry of many private players,” Sivan said in the message said.
“In accordance with worldwide guidelines, we [must] “develops heavy lift launch vehicle, semi-cryogenic stage, reusable launch vehicle, advanced propulsion, next generation aerospace, advanced materials, dynamic space applications and efficient integration of space-based services, as well as advanced space science missions,” Sivan added.
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According to the message, each ISRO center and unit has been ordered to draw up a plan for the rest of the decade that provides’ enough focus on research and innovation, taking into account the national requirements, the new space policy, as well as the transitions which takes place in the global space arena, ”said Sivan.
With the objectives of this statement in mind, 18 ISRO centers aim, according to SpaceNews, to scale up capabilities related to ground stations, human spaceflight, satellite platforms and more.
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, for example, was tasked with continuing its “launch vehicle competency towards heavy lifting, partial and full reusability” and scramjet engine (supersonic combustion engine, a kind of supersonic engine) research , according to SpaceNews.
In addition, SpaceNews reports, the ISRO’s center for liquid propulsion systems will develop more powerful semi-cryogenic buoyancy, enabling the country to place 5.5 tons in a geosynchronous transmission path. The same center was also focused on innovation in the form of the development of methane-liquid oxygen propulsion, “green propulsion” and electric propulsion.
Sivan, whose presidency has just been expanded on January 14, 2022, describes ISRO as a “torchbearer of innovation in the country.” With this decadal plan in place, ISRO already has a number of missions that are expected to begin in the near future. For example, in 2021 ISRO has plans to fly a small launch vehicle for small satellite vehicles as well as the Chandrayaan 3-moon mission, which follows the 2019 Chandrayaan 2 mission that, while the lander of the mission crashed, it was a notable achievement with the orbit of the mission that has observed and surrounded the moon to this day.
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