Current Affairs » ISRO tests Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator: 5 GK & Current Affairs Facts

ISRO tests Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator: 5 GK & Current Affairs Facts

ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre invented, produced, and successfully tested the (IAD) Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator. It was launched from (TERLS) Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Center aboard a (Rohini 300). This demonstration paves the door for low-cost spent-stage recovery utilising (IAD) Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator technology. It may also be employed in future ISRO expeditions to Venus and Mars. The importance of this news is that it might assist in the cost-effective recovery of discarded rocket stages and the safe landing of cargo on distant planets.

Table of Contents

  1. Insights of ISRO tests Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator
  2. About Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD)
  3. About ISRO
  4. Where is it going to be used by ISRO?

Key Takeaways

  • With the Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully tested a novel technology (IAD). 
  • IAD, created and developed by ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, is helpful with several uses, including trips to Venus and Mars. 
  • The Rohini-sounding rocket at Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station carried out a successful test flight of the IAD. 
  • Initially, the IAD was coiled and kept in the rocket’s payload compartment. The IAD had been inflated at 84 km. At that point, it began to fall into the atmosphere carrying a sounding rocket’s cargo. 
  • The IAD had consistently decreased the payload’s velocity through aerodynamic drag while maintaining the expected trajectory. IAD tech might also be employed in ISRO’s next missions to Venus and Mars. 
  • According to ISRO Chairman S. Somanath, who saw the launch. This demonstration, he added, “opens a pathway for cost-effective expended stage recovery utilising IAD technology.”

Insights of ISRO tests Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator

  • A method that might make it easier to recover used rocket stages at a reasonable cost & safely land payloads on some other planets has been tested by the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation  ).
  • On Saturday, ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) successfully test-flew the Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD) on a Rohini-300 sounding rocket from TERLS  (Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station). 
  • The ISRO chairman  Somanath, who’d been present for the 12.20 p.m. launch, remarked that this display opens a door for efficiently spent phase recovery & this technology may also be utilised in ISRO’s space projects to Venus and Mars.”
  • As the name indicates, the IAD acts to slow an object descending into the atmosphere. On Saturday, the Polychloroprene-coated and Kevlar IAD was put into the rocket’s payload chamber for demonstration.
  • After it, the rocket’s nose cone separated, the IAD employed pressurised nitrogen held in a gas cylinder to inflate at an altitude of 84 kilometres. According to the VSSC, the IAD reduced the payload’s velocity due to aerodynamic drag.
  • Eight more VSSC and LPSC components, including a remote video imaging system and a redesigned nose cone separation system, underwent successful testing on this flight. They would be accommodated on the next ISRO missions.

The Rohini (RH300 Mk II) sounding rocket was 6.3 metres tall and had a 552 kg launch weight. S. Unnikrishnan Nair, director of the VSSC, and V. Narayanan, director of the LPSC, were among the senior ISRO personnel present for the launch.

About Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD)

  • Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre created and developed the Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator.
  • A sounding rocket Rohini-300 has been used to test the IAD technology (RH300 Mk II). Scientists from India and elsewhere frequently employ Rohini sounding rockets for flight demonstrations.
  • After the rocket was launched, the IAD had been coiled within the “payload bay,” When it ascended to a height of roughly 84 kilometres, it was unfolded and inflated inside the rocket’s payload section. As a result, the rocket’s speed fell, and the payload’s velocity was impacted.
  • The IAD has enormous potential for use in a wide range of space systems, including the recovery of rocket expended stages, the landing of cargo on Mars or Venus, and the construction of space habitats for human-crewed space travel missions.
  • IAD has the potential to alter many next space missions completely. This method also allows for slowing the rocket’s pace, allowing scientists to regulate the rocket’s speed.

About ISRO

  • Indian Space Research Organisation is the space agency that reports to the Indian government’s Department of Space. It started in 1969. 
  • The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), founded in 1962, was superseded by ISRO. S. Somnath is the current chairman of ISRO.
  • Its goal is to conduct planetary exploration and space science research while using space technology for national development.
  • Antrix Company Limited (ACL) is an ISRO marketing division responsible for commercialising space products, providing technical consulting services, and transferring ISRO-developed technology.

Where is it going to be used by ISRO?

  • The IAD will assist ISRO in accomplishing numerous space activities, including recovering expended rocket stages and landing cargo on operations to certain other bodies.
  • It is the first time an IAD has been specially built for wasted stage recovery. So inner-planetary exploration is undoubtedly one of ISRO’s goals.