Like SpaceX, ISRO, too, has been working on reusable technology for quite some years to reduce mission costs. Our foremost priority is to increase the lifting capability of GSLV Mk III (ISRO's 'fat boy') from 4 tonnes to 6.5 tonnes, said ISRO Chairman
by Surendra Singh and Srinivas Laxman
On the historic launch of the world's most powerful rocket of Space X's Falcon Heavy rocket, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Dr K Sivan on Wednesday called it "a quantum leap in space technology. I want to congratulate Elon Musk on the significant accomplishment".
The Falcon Heavy rocket, which has the lifting capability of 63 tonnes, is carrying Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla Roadster sports car to Mars. According to some agency reports, the world's first space sports car is cruising toward the asteroid belt, well beyond the Red Planet. Propelled by 27 rocket engines, the Falcon Heavy rocket packed more than 5 million pounds of thrust at the launch. Elon's SpaceX is reusing first-stage boosters in this mission to save on launch costs.
Like SpaceX, ISRO, too, has been working on reusable technology for quite some years to reduce mission costs. The ISRO chairman told TOI, "Our research and development department is working on three technology demonstrators.
First one on the orbital re-entry of the vehicle, second on the landing of the reusable launch vehicle on the airstrip and third on reusable rocket stages. ISRO's research work on these three technologies is simultaneously going on and we hope to do a second technology demonstrator test (first experiment on resuable launch vehicle was in May 2016) within two years."
Dr Sivan, however, said, "Our foremost priority is to increase the lifting capability of GSLV Mk III (ISRO's 'fat boy') from 4 tonnes to 6.5 tonnes. The overall objective is to reduce the cost of launch vehicles. By increasing the lifting capability, we don't have to depend on the European spaceport for launching our heavier satellites weighing over 6 tonnes."