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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Buoyed by the success of the ISRO's Sramjet engine test on Sunday, Scientists of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) have begun preparations for the launch of GSLV Mark II scheduled for Sep 8.
"Now, the preparations are on for the GSLV Mark II mission on Sept 8 for the launch of INSAT-3DR, an Indian satellite for weather forecast, search and rescue information. It will be the second flight using the indigenously developed cryogenic engine after it was successfully used for the first time to launch GSLV-D5 in 2014," VSSC director K Sivan told TOI.
Success of Scramjet engine test towards the realisation of Air Breathing Propulsion System (ABPS) using hydrogen as fuel and oxygen from atmospheric air as oxidiser is a milestone in developing a critical technology and that boosts the confidence for the other launches too, he said. It was fitted into an Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV) based on advanced sounding rocket at hypersonic speed of Mach 6 or six times the speed of sound.
"Such propulsion technology of scramjet engine can power the advanced Reusable Launch Vehicle and other space launches at hypersonic speed in future. It will cut down the cost of space travel by at least one tenth making space launches more economical for ISRO," he reiterated.
With the success of Scramjet engine, India has joined the elite club of space faring nations including the US, Russia and European Space Agency, VSSC scientists said. Twin Scramjet engines were mounted on the back of the second stage of the two-stage ATV. Once the second stage reached the desired conditions for engine `Start-up', necessary actions were initiated to ignite the Scramjet engines and they functioned for about five seconds. After a flight of about 300 seconds, the vehicle touched down in the Bay of Bengal, approximately 320 km from Sriharikota and it was successfully tracked.
Simultaneously, an advanced cryogenic engine double the capacity with higher thrust is planned for the GSLV-Mk III launch by next year, Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) scientists said. The indigenous cryogenic engine to be used for GSLV Mark II on Sept 8 will be similar to the one used in GSLV-D5 launch two years back, the scientists said. Following that, ISRO is set to launch eight satellites on board PSLV C35 on Sept 28. It includes three Indian satellites led by ScatSat-1 for weather forecast and cyclone prediction.
