The Advanced Technology Vehicle is a modified Indian
sounding rocket
A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...
developed by the
Indian Space Research Organisation
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...
(ISRO). It is based on the
Rohini-560 rocket. The ATV program was created to test the development of a native dual-mode air-breathing
scramjet
A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow. As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to compress the incoming air forcefully b ...
engine. , ISRO has flown two test missions.
ATV-01
On 3 March 2010 at 03:00
UTC
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...
, the
Indian Space Research Organisation
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...
(ISRO) conducted the first test flight of the Advanced Technology Vehicle, designated ATV-D01. It weighed at lift-off, and measured long with a diameter of . It carried a passive
scramjet
A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow. As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to compress the incoming air forcefully b ...
engine combustor module as a demonstration of the air-breathing propulsion technology. The ATV successfully reached
Mach
The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound.
It is named after the Austrian physi ...
6 for seven seconds and maintained a dynamic pressure of .
ATV-02
On 28 August 2016 at 00:30 UTC, the second test flight, designated ATV-D02, was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Massing , the rocket carried an active scramjet engine demonstrator. At 55 seconds into the flight, the scramjets ignited at Mach 6 and functioned for about 5 seconds. The flight lasted a total of about 300 seconds and splashed down in the Bay of Bengal approximately from the space centre.
Flame was sustained in one engine for 18 seconds and in the other for 14 seconds, producing net positive thrust.
ATV-03
On 23 July 2024, ISRO effectively concluded the experimental flight demonstration of air breathing propulsion technology. Airbreathing jet engine, Air breathing propulsion systems were symmetrically placed on both sides of the RH-560 sounding rocket used in the experiment. The air breathing propulsion systems were ignited successfully and the test performed satisfactorily. 110 parameters were extensively watched during the flight to evaluate the propulsion system's performance.
See also
* RLV Technology Demonstration Programme
References
External links
{{Use Indian English, date=January 2014
Sounding rockets of India
Scramjet-powered aircraft
2010s in India
2010 in spaceflight
2016 in spaceflight
Satish Dhawan Space Centre