ISRO TO TEST REUSABLE SHUTTLE IN JULY 2015
After
its successful launch of MOM in 2013, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
is developing a reusable space shuttle which is expected for a test flight
during July end this year.
ISRO is most likely to try this with a scaled down version of
the airplane-shaped space shuttle, instead of the full size model. The reusable launch vehicle
has been named as "Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator"
(RLV-TD) and its shape is like a small aircraft. The vehicle will be launched
from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. In December 2014, a
re-entry capsule was successfully tested by ISRO.
The vehicle is expected to be attached to a strap-on booster
of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket along with 9 tons of fuel. It
is designed to get detached and drop back to Earth upon reaching an altitude of
70km and land safely in Bay of Bengal. ISRO is working on the
future technology to make them land on a runway.
Once successful, this will reduce the cost of placing a
satellite in the orbit to one tenth.
ISRO's
space shuttle module is only an experimental one and by succeeding in its plan
to building a re-entry module will bring the country in comparison to space
research of NASA, European Space Agency, China and Russia.
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