AsianScientist (Aug. 31, 2016) – India’s space agency has successfully launched its own scramjet engine this August, helping to ignite its ambitions into future space explorations.
A scramjet is a hypersonic engine, allowing vehicles to travel at speeds of over Mach 5. Scramjet stands for supersonic combusting ramjet, referring to the engine’s ability to slow the hypersonic air down to supersonic speeds to allow for combustion.
While in flight, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)-designed scramjet engine uses hydrogen as fuel and atmospheric oxygen as the oxidizer instead of liquefied oxygen.
After a smooth countdown of 12 hours, the solid rocket booster carrying the scramjet engines lifted off at 0600 h IST on August 28, 2016, with each stage taking place exactly as planned. ISRO’s advanced technology vehicle (ATV) was the solid rocket booster used for the test.
Following a flight of about 300 seconds, during which it flew at six times the speed of sound, or Mach 6, the vehicle touched down in the Bay of Bengal, approximately 320 km from Sriharikota. The vehicle flight path was successfully tracked from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
This flight demonstrated the success of critical technologies possessed by ISRO, such as the ignition of air breathing engines at supersonic speed, holding the flame at supersonic speed, air intake mechanism and fuel injection systems.
India is the fourth country to carry out flight testing of a scramjet engine. ISRO’s successful demonstration of an air-breathing scramjet engine in flight is an important milestone in the development of advanced air breathing engines, including engines for ISRO’s future space transportation systems.
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Source: Indian Space Research Organization.
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