Space: Indian wants to build space shuttles, satellite launchers
Posted at 7-2-2006 at 05:30 PM
Saturday's Discovery journey is coincidental. India's new dream is
to build space shuttles and rockets that hurl heavier satellites into orbit at one tenth of what it costs now and even send a man in space.
Space scientists are metamorphosing the vintage satellite launch vehicle (SLV) rocket into a shuttle that may pave the way for a future Indian manned
space mission. But at the moment, the scientists are more focused on bringing down the cost of a satellite launch to $2,500 per kg from the existing
$25,000 per kg.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) expects the first technology demonstrator of the modified SLV rocket to fly by 2009, but a bigger
reusable launch vehicle, which can place heavier satellites regularly, is nearly a decade away.
Unlike Discovery, the NASA space shuttle that is strapped to a rocket and released to fly once in space, the Indian shuttle will perch on top of the
SLV rocket. Once it crosses the earth’s atmosphere, it will cruise in space, hurl satellites and return back to earth.
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