ISRO To Launch Its Indigenous RLV-TD Space Shuttle

It has been only a month since NASA-ISRO revealed the extent of their partnership regarding NASA And ISRO Join Hands For NISAR Satellite To Study Natural Disasters And Climate Change, a climate monitoring satellite. Although the fever hasn’t yet faded, ISRO has made it to the front page once again with its fully “made-in-India” product, the RLV-TD, Indian reusable space shuttle that is now getting ready for its launch. Scientists are really excited about this venture, as the parts have been completely fabricated and assembled in the subcontinent.

The primary concept running behind this reusable launch vehicle is the idea to reduce the huge cost, congenially associated with any space program. Indian engineers and the research team have unanimously acknowledged the potential in reusable space ships which they considered to be a unique solution to solve the existing problems. The output achieved today is a part of a 5 year long project named Reusable Launch Vehicle -technology demonstration, a series of technical events conceived to result in a “Two Stage To Orbit” (TSTO) fully re-usable launch vehicle.

A secondary news agency claimed that ISRO has promised to bring down the cost of the Launch Vehicle to $2000/kg, much cheaper than what was required in past missions. Apparently, the system would be ready to take off on 23rd May,2016 and after placing the consigned satellite in space, it will drift back to the Bay of Bengal. Till now, it is not confirmed whether the vehicle would sustain itself by floating or not. The current status affirmatively states that the winged vehicle is almost ready and waiting for the final countdown at Sriharikota.


After the project was officially accepted, the research team launched a prototype version named “AVATAR”. A wiki report released on 20th May notified that M Chandradathan, Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) articulated that some special tiles were adjusted and embedded on the outer surface of the spaceship to strengthen its structure, so that it could withstand the tremendous heat waves while re-entering the earth’s atmosphere.

The prototype consists of delta wings fixed near the lower half of the body which weighs around 1.5 tonnes. It will be manipulated to become the mother-container for various flight based experiments such as in the case of hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight coupled with an air-breathing propulsion. The first one to be launched next week will be of the Hypersonic Flight experiment type. Science and technology enthusiasts are eagerly looking forward to this massive event.

Sources: #-Link-Snipped-# | Indian Space Research Organisation Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator .28Rlv Td.29 | #-Link-Snipped-# | Isro's big leap, embarks on launching Indian space shuttle - Times of India