The Indian space agency undertook the maiden launch of its very own fully 'Made in India’ reusable space shuttle, on the lines of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy and earlier than them!
The only operational space shuttles were made by America and Russia, all of which are now out of service, but ISRO scientists are now using this concept to considerably reduce the cost of launching satellites into orbit, and thus turning the rocket recycled or usable. France and Japan had made some experimental flights, but the shuttles never went into operation.
- The vehicle, almost the weight and size of an SUV, hurled into lower earth orbit and brought back to the surface has been named the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD).
- It was developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). RLV-TD is considered to be a giant leap in the history of ISRO.
- Very similar in its looks to the American space shuttle, the RLV-TD being experimented is a scale model which is almost 6 times smaller than the final version.
- Spaceships like the RLV-TD can bring down operation costs during a space mission to 10 percent the actual revenue!
- Astronaut Kalpana Chawla's death was a result of failure of the thermal coating on the American space shuttle Columbia. As a result, scientists at VSSC have developed very lightweight heat resistant silica tiles that are plastered on the underbelly of this space shuttle and can withstand 5000-7000 degrees Celsius temperature that the exterior of the vehicle is faced with as it comes back into the dense atmosphere after its journey in space!
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