Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], April 5 (ANI): Solar Defence and Aerospace Limited (SDAL), Nagpur, has developed and manufactured the propulsion system along with its igniter and realized the third stage rocket motor for the VIKRAM-1 Satellite Launch Vehicle.
This rocket motor features a propellant mass of 2,400 kg and a maximum thrust of 75,000 N.
The rocket motor underwent all required non-destructive testing at the SDAL facility to ensure its quality before static testing. It was successfully tested on the static test bed at SDAL, Nagpur. During the test, the nozzle of the rocket motor was vectored to establish thrust vectoring performance. The motor was fully instrumented, and live test data was displayed and recorded at the Data Acquisition Centre.
It is noteworthy that SDAL has established a unique in-house test facility for conducting static tests on small to large rocket motors for satellite launch vehicles, rockets, and missiles with high propellant weight and thrust. This facility is equipped with a data acquisition system to record various types of live test data for performance analysis.
Earlier, on April 3, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Dr. Jitendra Singh announced that a Third Launch Pad (TLP) will be established at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of ISRO in Sriharikota.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Dr. Singh stated that the project has been approved by the Union Cabinet with a financial sanction of ₹3,984.86 crore. The establishment of the new launch pad is expected to be completed within four years.
“ISRO’s Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), which is under development, is approximately 90 meters tall with a maximum lift-off mass of around 1,000 tonnes. The existing launch pads at Sriharikota are not designed to accommodate this class of vehicles, particularly due to the new propulsion system based on liquid methane,” Dr. Singh said.
He further explained that due to the large height and size of the NGLV, future launch vehicles are planned to undergo horizontal integration and transportation, after which they will be tilted onto the launch pad along with a Tiltable Umbilical Tower (TUT). The TLP will incorporate necessary foundation support and servicing features to support launches for India’s upcoming crewed lunar mission.
Dr. Singh also highlighted that the first stage of the NGLV will be powered by a cluster of nine engines. “Hot testing of this stage is planned at the launch pad itself, eliminating the need to establish a large separate facility for stage testing,” he added.
In another reply in the Upper House, Dr. Singh emphasized that the Space Applications Centre (SAC), a premier research and development hub of ISRO, has been at the forefront of space technology innovations since its inception in 1966. (ANI)
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