The Unified Launch Vehicle (ULV) is a family of modular expendable launch vehicles, currently under development by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). This vehicle is designed to replace the

PSLV The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...

, GSLV Mk I/II and

GSLV Mk III The Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM 3), previously referred to as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk3), is a three-stage medium-lift launch vehicle developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Primarily de ...

with a single family of launchers. The design may include a heavy-lift variant dubbed HLV, consisting of the SC-160 stage and two solid rocket boosters, as well as a super heavy-lift variant called SHLV with a cluster stage of five SCE-200 engines. As SCE-200 will only fly after the successful completion of the

Gaganyaan Gaganyaan (Sanskrit IAST: ''gagan-yāna'', ) is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgrad ...

program, the launcher will not fly before 2022.

Design

As of May 2013, based on ISRO data, the design comprised a common core and upper stage, with four different booster sizes. All four versions of the boosters are solid motors, with at least three versions reusing current motors from the PSLV, GSLV Mk I/II and LVM3. The core, known as the SC160 (Semi-Cryogenic stage with 160 tonnes of propellant, in the ISRO nomenclature), would have of

Kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

LOX Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an appli ...

propellant and be powered by a single SCE-200

rocket engine A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accorda ...

. The

upper stage A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...

, known as the C30 (Cryogenic stage with 30 tonnes of propellant) would have of LH2 /

propellant and be powered by a single CE-20 engine. The four booster options are: * 6 × S-13, slightly larger than the S-12 on PSLV, to burn longer; * 2 × S-60, which appears to be a new solid motor development; * 2 × S-139, which is the first stage of PSLV and GSLV Mk I/II; * 2 × S-200, like on the LVM3. In September 2021, in a virtual event being conducted by ISRO, the presentation mentioned a fleet about configuration of a family of five rockets capable of lifting from 4.9 tonnes to 16 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The presentation mentioned about ongoing development of a new semi-cryogenic stage namely SC120 and upgraded cryogenic stage namely C32. The configurations displayed about more powerful engines stages; SC-400 semi-cryogenic stage, C27 cryogenic stage and S2250 solid rocket boosters.

Variants

Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV-Variant):- A potential heavy-lift variant (HLV) of the unified launcher capable of placing up to 10 ton class of spacecraft into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit would include: * A larger dual S-250 solid strap-on boosters as compared to the S-200 boosters used in LVM3; * A L-400 semi-cryogenic core stage, with 400 tonnes of propellant, using a cluster of five SCE-200 engines; * A L-27 cryogenic third stage, with 27 tonnes of propellant, using CE-20 engine.

Comparable rockets

* Angara (rocket family) *

Ariane 6 Ariane 6 is a European expendable launch system currently under development since the early 2010s by ArianeGroup on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA). It is intended to replace the Ariane 5, as part of the Ariane launch vehicle famil ...

Delta IV Heavy The Delta IV Heavy (Delta 9250H) is an expendable heavy-lift launch vehicle, the largest type of the Delta IV family. It is the world's third highest-capacity launch vehicle in operation, behind NASA's Space Launch System and SpaceX's Falcon H ...

* H3 *

Long March (rocket family) The Long March rockets are a family of expendable launch system rockets operated by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The rockets are named after the Chinese Red Army's 1934–35 Long March military retreat during the Chi ...

Proton rocket Proton (Russian: Протон) (formal designation: UR-500) is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965. Modern versions of the launch system are sti ...

Vulcan Centaur Vulcan Centaur is a two-stage-to-orbit, heavy-lift launch vehicle that is under development by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2014 with an initial flight expected in early 2023. It is principally designed to meet launch demands for th ...

References

External links

ULV Description

ULV development discussion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unified Launch Vehicle Satish Dhawan Space Centre ISRO space launch vehicles

Design

Variants

Comparable rockets

See also

References

External links