RLV Technology Demonstration Programme

RLV-TD

RLV-TD (Scaled Model)
Function Technology Demonstration Vehicle
Manufacturer ISRO
Country of origin  India
Size
Height ~16 m[1]
Diameter 1 m [1]
Mass 12 tonnes [2]
Stages 2[1]
Launch history
Status Testing prototypes[3]
Launch sites Satish Dhawan Space Centre
First flight April 2016 (<proposed)[4]

Reusable Launch Vehicle—Technology Demonstration Programme or RLV–TD is a series of technology demonstration missions that has been conceived by ISRO as a first step towards realising a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) re-usable launch vehicle, an intermediate step towards the creation of an SSTO Avatar spaceplane.[5]

For this purpose, a winged reusable launch vehicle technology demonstrator (RLV-TD) has been configured. The RLV-TD will act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies like hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air-breathing propulsion.

Development

Background

In the 1990s India initiated plans to develop a small space shuttle named Hyperplane that was to be orbited by non-reusable launchers. Then plans changed to project Avatar as a single-stage system. The Indian Space Research Organisation indicates that this vehicle was planned for development after 2010.[6][7]

In parallel, India has been working a manned spaceflights programme from 2014 to 2015 with non-reusable conventional Orbital Vehicle spacecraft launched by the non-reusable launcher GSLV.


Test missions

A total of four RLV-TD flights are planned by ISRO.[8][9]

Mission progress

In 2006 the Indian Space Research Organisation performed a series of ground tests to demonstrate stable supersonic combustion for nearly 7 seconds with an inlet Mach number of 6.[10]

In March 2010, ISRO conducted the flight testing of its new sounding rocket: Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV-D01), weighing 3 tonnes at lift-off, a diameter of 0.56 m, nd a length of ~10 m.[11] It carried a passive scramjet engine combustor module as a test-bed for demonstration of air-breathing propulsion technology.[12]

In January 2012, ISRO announced that a scaled prototype, called Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), was approved to be built and tested.[13] The aerodynamics characterization on the RLV-TD prototype was done by National Aerospace Laboratories in India. The RLV-TD is in the last stages of construction by a Hyderabad-based private company called CIM Technologies.

By May 2015, engineers at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station were installing thermal tiles on the outer surface of the RLV-TD, so it can withstand the intense heat during atmospheric reentry.[3] This prototype weighs around 1.5 tonnes and would fly up to an altitude of 70 km.[3] The RLV-TD will be mounted on top of a solid booster HS9[1] with 1 m diameter and launched beyond the atmosphere, after which the RLV-TD will separate and reenter the atmosphere while traveling through the hypersonic regime.[14] The rocket is expendable while the RLV would glide back to Earth and fall in Bay of Bengal as there are no airstrips that are 5 km long at suitable location in India that could be used to land such aircraft. ISRO has made detailed reports to construct an airstrip greater than 4 km long in the Sriharikota island and it will be built in near future.[15]

ISRO has tentatively slated the second scramjet engine flight from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre for February 2016,[2] on board the "Advanced Technology Vehicle" flight 2 (ATV-D02).[16]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 ""Modeling &Control of Launch Vehicles"" (PDF). www.sc.iitb.ac.in.
  2. 1 2 "Tuesday, December 22, Isro’s small steps towards developing its own reusable rocket [Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)] program". LIVE MINT, IN. 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  3. 1 2 3 ""Navigation satellite system by March"".
  4. ↑ ""ISRO's RLV-TD Project Likely to be Delayed"".
  5. ↑ "Indian Space Research Organisation to test its reusable RLV spacecraft". SpaceFlight Insider.
  6. ↑ Sputnik (13 August 2007). "India plans to launch first space shuttle in 2010 - space official". rian.ru.
  7. ↑ Isro set to test reusable space vehicle. Times of India
  8. ↑ http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/media/33219-5/IMG_0024.JPG
  9. ↑ "Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstration Program (RLV-TD) - ISRO". isro.gov.in.
  10. ↑ "Welcome to VIKRAM SARABHAI SPACE CENTRE - ISRO_Supersonic Combustion Tech". www.vssc.gov.in. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  11. ↑ ""Space Transportation Systems: What the future beholds" by Dr. B N Suresh". 2 November 2007.
  12. ↑ "Successful flight testing of advanced sounding rocket - ISRO". www.isro.gov.in. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
  13. ↑ "ISRO's design of reusable launch vehicle approved".
  14. ↑ "Reusable Launch Vehicles". Brahmand.com. November 25, 2010. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
  15. ↑ "ISRO Gears up for 6 Major Missions This Year". Express News Service. 30 May 2015.
  16. ↑ "ISRO set to test scramjet engine". The Hindu. 2015-11-28. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2015-12-06.

External links

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