12-18-2003, 03:59 AM
<!--emo&:thumbsup--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbup.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbup.gif' /><!--endemo--> <b>India aims to launch RLV by 2015: ISRO</b>
India is working on a technology demonstrator for Reusable Launch Vehicle which it plans to put in space by 2015, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Wednesday.
"A demonstrator towards developing newer technologies for the Reusable Launch Vehicle is in the initial phase of design, making use of concurrent engineering practices and inter-disciplinary design approach," Nair said in his Neelakantan Memorial Lecture at the 55th annual general meeting of the Aeronautical Society of India.
"Studies have been initiated. It takes that much time (15 years), so we have to start wetting our hands for building the demonstrator," Nair told reporters.
"The demonstrator is small, it has a diameter of one metre by five metres. It will be launched by a small rocket from Sriharikota," he said.
Asked about the timeframe for designing a full scale RLV, Nair said, "Once we wet our hands, we can make the design maybe in 10 or 15 years, maybe 2020."
ISRO, he said, had begun studies on various cryogenic and semi-cryogenic boosters, besides in the rocket based combined cycle engine development including air-breathing propulsion.
"Satellite Recovery Experiment involving re-entry/recovery have also been planned in the near future," Nair said, adding, it would be ready in the next 18 months.
<!--emo&:ind--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/india.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='india.gif' /><!--endemo-->
India is working on a technology demonstrator for Reusable Launch Vehicle which it plans to put in space by 2015, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Wednesday.
"A demonstrator towards developing newer technologies for the Reusable Launch Vehicle is in the initial phase of design, making use of concurrent engineering practices and inter-disciplinary design approach," Nair said in his Neelakantan Memorial Lecture at the 55th annual general meeting of the Aeronautical Society of India.
"Studies have been initiated. It takes that much time (15 years), so we have to start wetting our hands for building the demonstrator," Nair told reporters.
"The demonstrator is small, it has a diameter of one metre by five metres. It will be launched by a small rocket from Sriharikota," he said.
Asked about the timeframe for designing a full scale RLV, Nair said, "Once we wet our hands, we can make the design maybe in 10 or 15 years, maybe 2020."
ISRO, he said, had begun studies on various cryogenic and semi-cryogenic boosters, besides in the rocket based combined cycle engine development including air-breathing propulsion.
"Satellite Recovery Experiment involving re-entry/recovery have also been planned in the near future," Nair said, adding, it would be ready in the next 18 months.
<!--emo&:ind--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/india.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='india.gif' /><!--endemo-->