Sources in India’s premier space agency had told Deccan Herald earlier that considerable advancement has been achieved on the tests and on the technology demonstrator.
“The prototype will be ready in the next two years,” said ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan. Stating that this was a critical breakthrough for the agency, sources said: “Once completed, the prototype will allow us to assess how close we are to developing a fully re-usable Two Stage To Orbit .”
The success, or failure or partial success, will allow ISRO to formulate objectives and decide on whether India can straightaway develop a fully re-usable vehicle or should the agency begin with a vehicle where some of its stages are re-usable. Radhakrishnan said the Winged Re-usable Launch Vehicle technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), which is already configured, will now test the aerodynamics, aerothermal aspects and the controllability.
The RLV-TD will act as a flying testbed to evaluate various technologies like hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion. The project will help India own and operate a spacecraft modelled on the space shuttle and has “complexities of a rocket and an aircraft,” Radhakrishnan explained.