India is planning to develop reusable rockets for the world, government officials informed on Monday. The agency will design and manufacture new reusable rockets for global markets to cut the cost of launching satellites.
“We all want the launch to be much cheaper than today,” said S Somanath, secretary of the Department of Space and chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Addressing the seventh ‘Bengaluru Space Expo 2022’, the agency chief said that currently, it takes $10,000 to $15,000 to put a kilogram of payload into orbit. “We have to bring it down to USD 5,000 or even USD 1,000 per kg. The only way to do that is to make rockets reusable. Today in India we do not have reusable technology in launch vehicles (rockets) Is.” Told.
“So, the idea is the next rocket we are going to make after GSLV Mk III being a reusable rocket,” he said
The president of the agency explained that they are working on various technologies including: flammable aerodynamic decelerator (IAD) which was demonstrated last week.
“We have to have a retro-propulsion to land it (rocket back on earth),” he said.
Somnath also pointed out that the idea of a reusable rocket would be a combination of current technologies and assistance from industry, startup And the agency’s commercial arm NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) will also be taken over.
“This is the idea and we are working on that idea. That idea cannot be of ISRO alone. It has to be an industry idea. So, we have to work with them in designing a new rocket, not just it Designing, rather engineering it, manufacturing it and launching it as a commercial product and operating it in a commercial manner,” he said.
“So, it’s a big change from what we do today. I want to see it (the proposal) take shape over the next few months. We want to see a rocket that will be competitive-enough, a rocket that costs – will be conscious, production-friendly that will be built in India but will operate globally for services to the space sector.” Told.
The technology is expected over the next few years as the agency also calculates the retirement of working launch vehicles.
“It should be in the next few years so that we can retire all those operating launch vehicles (in India) in due course,” he said.
With inputs from PTI.
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