India’s Space Research Organization (ISRO) conducted a successful experiment to demonstrate supersonic combustion using atmospheric oxygen on Sunday, August 28. It was the maiden experiment of ISRO’s Dual Mode Ramjet (DMRJ) engine, which uses hydrogen as fuel and air from the atmosphere as the oxidizer, at hypersonic conditions, and was an important step toward developing reusable launch vehicles to reduce the costs of future space missions, reports Business Standard.
The mission used the RH-560 rocket fitted with a supersonic combustion ramjet (Scramjet) engine, and it was launched at India’s rocket port located at Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota in the eastern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Center at Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of the southern state of Kerala, developed the engines to be used in the RH-560 rocket, reports Defense World.
The technology demonstration of hypersonic air breathing dual ramjet engines will lead to the design and development capability of advanced air breathing engines, including engines with variable geometry air intake for future space transportation systems.
