ISRO To Use Green Fuel For Its Rockets , Electric Propulsion For Satellites

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working to power its rockets and satellites using non-hazardous and environment-friendly fuels. In addition, the Indian space agency is also aiming to use electric propulsion for its satellites, as has been confirmed by the ISRO Chairman recently. See the source image

"Since humans will be inside the rocket, we want only non-hazardous fuel and not the hazardous one to power the human space mission's Gaganyaan rocket," ISRO chief K Sivan told IANS.

For this, ISRO has decided to make use of hydrogen peroxide in its future rockets that will be a part of the missions like 'Gaganyaan'. The hydrogen peroxide can be used as a mono-propellant or as a bi-propellant along with ethanol.

In addition to hydrogen peroxide, ISRO is also looking at another green fuel - LOX/Methane. This would constitute liquid oxygen which will work as oxidiser while the methane will work as fuel.

See the source image

As per the space agency, LOX/Methane propellant is better than the existing propellants in terms of efficiency, storability, toxicity, as well as the cost. "One month back, we tested the LOX/Methane engine and the results were good," Sivan said.

As an alternative to conventional hydrazine rocket fuel, ISRO has also developed ISROSENE, a rocket-grade version of kerosene. Sivan said that ISRO is looking to use such clean fuels for both its liquid engine fuels as well as the solid fuel-fired engines.

As for its satellites, the space agency plans to try out electrical propulsion instead of chemical fuel. Sivan said that since such a system is lighter, it would help bring down the total satellite weight. This would in turn require less power on a rocket to put the satellite into space.

Comments

Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) : NavIC

IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system being developed by India. It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. An Extended Service Area lies between primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30 deg South to 50 deg North, Longitude 30 deg East to 130 deg East. IRNSS will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all the users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users. The IRNSS System is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 m in the primary service area. Some applications of IRNSS are: Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation Disaster Management Vehicle tracking and fleet management Integration with mobile phones Precise Timing Mapping and Geodetic data capture Terrestrial nav...

Virgin Galactic's First Fully Crewed Spaceflight

Today’s flight was the 22nd test flight of VSS Unity and the first test flight with a full crew in the cabin, including the Company’s founder, Sir Richard Branson. The crew fulfilled a number of test objectives related to the cabin and customer experience, including evaluating the commercial customer cabin, the views of Earth from space, the conditions for conducting research and the effectiveness of the five-day pre-flight training program at Spaceport America. Michael Colglazier, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic, said: “Today is a landmark achievement for the Company and a historic moment for the new commercial space industry. With each successful mission we are paving the way for the next generation of astronauts. I want to thank our talented team, including our pilots and crew, whose dedication and commitment made today possible. They are helping open the door for greater access to space – so it can be for the many and not just for the few.” VSS Unity achieved a spee...

Astronomers Discover A New 'Beast' Class Transient Object

Back in 2016, astronomers observed a cosmic explosion within a tiny galaxy 500 million light-years. In a new study, the explosion was found to be a new class of object that is one of the biggest cosmic bursts recorded yet. Senior author of the study, Raffaella Margutti from Northwestern University says , “There is a new beast out there, and it’s able to produce the same energetic phenomenon” as the collapse of a massive star or the merger of two neutron stars. The explosion, CRTS-CSS161010J045834-081803 was found to be a fast blue optical transient object or simply, an FBOT. It is located in a dwarf galaxy near the constellation Eridanus that hosts about 10 million stars, a lot less compared to our Milky Way Galaxy. Its location is similar to other FBOT objects that have been found in dwarf galaxies as well but the newly discovered transient object was the biggest yet. AT2018COW, nicknamed ‘The Cow’, is one such rare FBOT event that is thought to have occurred during the birth of ...

EduTechVlogs

Search This Blog