ISRO Design for Reusable Launch Vehicle Approved

• ISRO Design for Reusable Launch Vehicle Approved by sanman on 06 Jan, 2012 05:41
• ISRO's design for its RLV-TD (Reusable Launch Vehicle Test Demontrator) has been approved by a National Review Committee, which has provided clearance to go ahead and build the vehicle:
  
  http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_isro-s-design-of-reusable-launch-vehicle-approved_1633779
• #1 by simonbp on 06 Jan, 2012 15:10
• Relevant quote:
  
  

  Quote

  The space agency, as a first step towards realising a Two-Stage To Orbit (TSTO) re-usable launch vehicle, has developed a winged RLV-TD.
  ...
  The RLV-TD will act as a flying test-bed to evaluate various technologies — hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion.
  
  The first in the series of trials is the hypersonic flight experiment (HEX) followed by the landing experiment (LEX), return flight experiment (REX) and scramjet propulsion experiment (SPEX).
  
  During HEX, the vehicle will take lift off in the form of a rocket with a booster. Later, it can be recovered from sea.
  

  
  So, it sounds like a two-stage vehicle, with a scramjet-powered recoverable first stage and a winged orbiter for a second stage.
• #2 by sanman on 08 Jan, 2012 02:51
• This is something old,but I thought it might be useful to post:
  
  http://www.aame.in/2011/08/india-space-shuttle-reusable-launch.html
• #3 by sanman on 08 Jan, 2012 06:46
• Quote from: simonbp on 06 Jan, 2012 15:10

  So, it sounds like a two-stage vehicle, with a scramjet-powered recoverable first stage and a winged orbiter for a second stage.
  

  
  Just to clarify, the RLV-TD is merely intended as a low-cost testbed platform, and is not intended as a prototype that later platforms would resemble.
  
  India's ultimate goal for RLV is the AVATAR (Aerobic Vehicle for hypersonic Aerospace Transportation) which will be an SSTO (Single-Stage-to-Orbit) vehicle.
  
  India can't make AVATAR right away, so it will first build and operate the TSTO (Two-Stage-to-Orbit) vehicle, which is composed of a lower stage and an upper stage. The lower stage is a winged flyback booster powered by a semi-cryogenic rocket, and the upper stage is powered by a cryogenic rocket.
  
  But before India can even build TSTO, it will build RLV-TD to act as a testbed platform for the technologies which will be used by the TSTO as well as the AVATAR SSTO. For instance, the RLV-TD will also test a hypersonic scramjet engine, which is not used in the TSTO, but will be used in the ultimate AVATAR SSTO.
  
  http://www.brahmand.com/news/Reusable-Launch-Vehicles-%EF%BF%BD-The-future-of-space-missions/5595/3/15.html
  
  As a low-cost testbed (not a prototype), the RLV-TD will carry out a series of experiments: HEX, LEX, REX, and SPEX.
  
  HEX (Hypersonic Flight Experiment) will see the RLV-TD launched on a rocket booster high above the atmosphere, and then released to glide back into the atmosphere at hypersonic velocity. Note that this will be a glide, and not an engine-powered flight, but it will be able to test the airframe and control systems. RLV-TD will then land in the ocean and be recovered.
  
  LEX (Landing Experiment) will have the RLV-TD fitted with landing gear. It will be flown on a large transport plane and then dropped, so that it can glide down to a landing strip, deploy its landing gear and land like a regular aircraft.
  
  REX (Return flight Experiment) will have RLV-TD fitted with jet engines that will allow it to take off from an airstrip like a regular aircraft. It will then fly around and return back to land on the strip like a regular aircraft.
  
  Finally SPEX (Scramjet Propulsion Experiment) will have RLV-TD further fitted with a scramjet engine. It will get to take off from an airstrip like a regular aircraft, but once in flight it will accelerate to supersonic speed, after which it will activate its air-breathing scramjet engine and accelerate to hypersonic velocity. The scramjet will then switch off and the vehicle will decelerate until it can reactivate its normal jet engines and then return to land at the landing strip like a regular aircraft.
  
  
  So the actual later vehicles that RLV-TD is acting as a testbed for, will look nothing like the RLV-TD itself. RLV-TD is a testbed, and not a prototype.