India plans to test space shuttle in next 12 months
India plans to test space shuttle in next 12 months
The disclosure marks yet another giant leap for India's space programme following last year's successful lunar mission, Chandrayaan 1, and a significant step towards India becoming a major player in space transportation.
It hopes the shuttle will enable India to offer cut-price satellite launches and become a dominant player in the industry. Last night officials said if successful the shuttle may, in time, be used for other transport uses, but its main purpose now is to "reduce the cost of access to space."
Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully tested the booster rocket which will fire the shuttle into space in December last year.
The Indian shuttle, currently known by its technical name, Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator will now undergo a number of structure and load tests before it takes its first test flight early next year.
It bears a strong resemblance to the American Challenger shuttle, with a tube-shaped body and triangular wings, and sits vertically, nose up, on top of its launch rocket.
ISRO spokesman Mr S. Satish on Thursday night said that, if successful, the demonstrator would "prove the technology for the development of a space shuttle," but it would be a further four or five years before the country would be ready for a commercial launch.
Next year's test flight, which will be unmanned and remote-controlled, will take off from a test site in southern India, blasting beyond the Earth's atmosphere into space before it re-enters and lands in the Indian Ocean.
The flight will test the aerodynamics of the shuttle, the remote control system and its ability to withstand the heat generated when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.
"The cost of access to space has to be reduced, and this [test-flight] will prove India can build a space shuttle within four or five years," said Mr Satish.
The article is from 2009...
India plans to test space shuttle in next 12 months
The disclosure marks yet another giant leap for India's space programme following last year's successful lunar mission, Chandrayaan 1, and a significant step towards India becoming a major player in space transportation.
It hopes the shuttle will enable India to offer cut-price satellite launches and become a dominant player in the industry. Last night officials said if successful the shuttle may, in time, be used for other transport uses, but its main purpose now is to "reduce the cost of access to space."
Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully tested the booster rocket which will fire the shuttle into space in December last year.
The Indian shuttle, currently known by its technical name, Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator will now undergo a number of structure and load tests before it takes its first test flight early next year.
It bears a strong resemblance to the American Challenger shuttle, with a tube-shaped body and triangular wings, and sits vertically, nose up, on top of its launch rocket.
ISRO spokesman Mr S. Satish on Thursday night said that, if successful, the demonstrator would "prove the technology for the development of a space shuttle," but it would be a further four or five years before the country would be ready for a commercial launch.
Next year's test flight, which will be unmanned and remote-controlled, will take off from a test site in southern India, blasting beyond the Earth's atmosphere into space before it re-enters and lands in the Indian Ocean.
The flight will test the aerodynamics of the shuttle, the remote control system and its ability to withstand the heat generated when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.
"The cost of access to space has to be reduced, and this [test-flight] will prove India can build a space shuttle within four or five years," said Mr Satish.
The article is from 2009...
better Ignore the 
