CHENNAI: India's GSLV-Mark III project aimed at carrying 4-tonne payloads, including the proposed manned mission, has got a boost with Isro successfully test-firing on ground the first indigenous high thrust cryogenic rocket engine for more than its full duration.
Isro on Monday confirmed that the test was conducted at the Isro Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu for 800 seconds, which is 25% more than the engine burn duration of the engine during flight. On April 28 this year, Isro did the first full-duration ground test of the engine for 645 seconds.
The engine will be used for powering the cryogenic stage (C25), which forms the upper stage of GSLV-Mark II. India has so far used six of the seven cryogenic engines procured from Russia, and needs to fly GSLVs using indigenous engines to propel its future space missions.
An Isro scientist told TOI that the next step would be high-altitude tests by simulating low pressure atmospheric conditions on ground to see how the engine behaves.
Cryogenics, the science of very low temperatures, has remained a tricky affair for rockets scientists across the world. A cryogenic engine uses hydrogen as fuel, stored at minus 253 degrees Celsius and liquid oxygen as oxidizer at minus 183 degrees Celsius.
The USSR (later Russia) and the US were pioneers in this section of rocketry, later mastered by China, Japan and European Space Agency. India earlier developed an indigenous cryogenic stage called C20 with a thrust of 12.5 tonnes, and the latest C25 with a thrust of 27 tonnes will be a vast improvement on it.
The engine design was totally in-house effort with experts from different fields like fluid dynamics, combustion, thermal, structural, metallurgy, fabrication, rotor dynamics, control components, etc. working together. The fabrication of major subsystems of the engine was carried out through Indian industries. Assembly and integration of the engine and testing were carried out at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), a unit of Isro," the organization said in a statement on Monday.
The recent successful endurance hot test of the first high thrust cryogenic engine is the tenth test in a series of tests planned and executed as part of the development of the engine employing complex cryogenic technology. The performance of the engine closely matches with the pre-test prediction made using the in-house developed cryogenic engine mathematical modelling and simulation software, it said.
Prior to engine realisation, a series of subsystem level tests were carried out to independently evaluate the design of major subsystems like the turbo pumps, thrust chamber, gas generator and flow control components.
GSLV-Mk III project on course as India test-fires indigenous cryo engine for 800 seconds - The Times of India
Isro on Monday confirmed that the test was conducted at the Isro Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu for 800 seconds, which is 25% more than the engine burn duration of the engine during flight. On April 28 this year, Isro did the first full-duration ground test of the engine for 645 seconds.
The engine will be used for powering the cryogenic stage (C25), which forms the upper stage of GSLV-Mark II. India has so far used six of the seven cryogenic engines procured from Russia, and needs to fly GSLVs using indigenous engines to propel its future space missions.
An Isro scientist told TOI that the next step would be high-altitude tests by simulating low pressure atmospheric conditions on ground to see how the engine behaves.
Cryogenics, the science of very low temperatures, has remained a tricky affair for rockets scientists across the world. A cryogenic engine uses hydrogen as fuel, stored at minus 253 degrees Celsius and liquid oxygen as oxidizer at minus 183 degrees Celsius.
The USSR (later Russia) and the US were pioneers in this section of rocketry, later mastered by China, Japan and European Space Agency. India earlier developed an indigenous cryogenic stage called C20 with a thrust of 12.5 tonnes, and the latest C25 with a thrust of 27 tonnes will be a vast improvement on it.
The engine design was totally in-house effort with experts from different fields like fluid dynamics, combustion, thermal, structural, metallurgy, fabrication, rotor dynamics, control components, etc. working together. The fabrication of major subsystems of the engine was carried out through Indian industries. Assembly and integration of the engine and testing were carried out at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), a unit of Isro," the organization said in a statement on Monday.
The recent successful endurance hot test of the first high thrust cryogenic engine is the tenth test in a series of tests planned and executed as part of the development of the engine employing complex cryogenic technology. The performance of the engine closely matches with the pre-test prediction made using the in-house developed cryogenic engine mathematical modelling and simulation software, it said.
Prior to engine realisation, a series of subsystem level tests were carried out to independently evaluate the design of major subsystems like the turbo pumps, thrust chamber, gas generator and flow control components.
GSLV-Mk III project on course as India test-fires indigenous cryo engine for 800 seconds - The Times of India
