Indian Government News, Plans are afoot to launch a technology demonstrator of a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) by early 2009.
“We are working on a demonstrator of the reusable launch vehicle. We hope to launch it by early 2009,” Dr B N Suresh, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre told reporters on Thursday while giving details about the five-day International Astronautical Congress.
The re-usable vehicle, which aims at testing the hypersonic aerodynamics, will be launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, the Indian Space Research Organisation's launch centre.
The technology demonstrator is a precursor to mastering technologies related to the reusable launch vehicles.
It will take off vertically, go into the right atmosphere, then fly out of the dense atmosphere, the scientist said.
The RLV is forerunner of the Indian version of the space shuttle. This unmanned vehicle will blast off like a rocket, come back like an aircraft and drop into the sea and can then be recovered.
Work on the RLV project has been in progress. It will help in reducing the cost of space transportation.
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