New Delhi: India has joined an elite group of countries by successfully testing a supersonic rocket technology that enables inexpensive space travel as well as reduction of satellite launching costs by over 90 per cent, reports and officials said Wednesday.
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said it had achieved a breakthrough in supersonic combustion technology after testing its Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (or Scramjet) for seven seconds at its facility on Tuesday.
The technology propels rockets at 4,560 miles per hour (7,339 kilometers per hour) about three times faster than the Concorde, the Hindustan Times reported.
The technology will allow India to build rockets that are lighter and thus carry heavier satellites at lower than one-tenth the costs now. Currently, space transportation systems cost between 12,000 to 15,000 dollars per kilogram of payload. Only the U.S. and Australia had reported success with such high speed vehicles, the paper said.
NASA's X-43 aircraft had established a record 6,600 mph (10,621 kmph) in November 2004 during its 10 second flight. In July 2002, Australia reported a successful flight of a Scramjet engine.
Work related to supersonic combustor designs in other countries like Japan, China, Russia and Europe are either in their initial or ground-testing phase. In the coming years, ISRO is planning to flight test an integrated Scramjet propulsion system comprising of air-intake, combustor and nozzle, by using a cost effective two stage RH-560 sounding rocket.
'Development of such a high technology system will come in a big way towards meeting the futuristic space transportation needs of our country,' the Indian space agency stated.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
