Futuristic rocket launched successfully by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) propelled India into select club of nations making people proud of its achievements. ISRO today conducted scramjet engine test at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80 kilometres from Chennai at 6AM in a successful manner.
Reports reveal the scramjet engine test puts India in a select group of nations which include Australia and United States who earlier conducted the tests. The futuristic rocket will reduce the cost of weather rocket INSAT 3DR by 10 times. The amount of oxidiser carried along with the fuel will be reduced drastically.
Officials speaking to scribes informed “Two scramjet engines were tested during the flight. The finer details about the test will be known later.” He went on to add “The scramjet engines were ignited 55 seconds into the rocket’s flight. The engines were tested for six seconds,”
ISRO in the meantime postponed the launch of weather satellite INSAT-3DR with the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-MkII) from Aug 28 to Sep 8 due to a technical issue found with a satellite component. P. Kunhi Krishnan, SDSC director said the issue was fixed now.
GSLV rocket that would carry the weather satellite INSAT-3DR has been fully assembled and the satellite would be mounted on the rocket in 3-4 days.
By the end of September ISRO will launch ScatSAT, which is a weather monitoring and forecasting satellite with polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV). The satellite will be a co passenger to an Algerian satellite.
