The Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) has said that it will design and build reusable rockets. On the other hand, Elon Musk's Spacex is also working on a fully reusable rocket Both agencies want to dominate the commercial space industry. Here's what you need to know!
ISRO to build Reusable rockets
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the country's space agency, has said that it wants to design and build a reusable rocket. This was announced by the agency's chairman S Somanath during the Bengaluru Space Expo 2022. The reusable rocket aims to cut costs and will reportedly target the global market. This will help ISRO reduce the cost of launching satellites.
Cost will be cut by 90%
"All of us want launches to be much cheaper than what we do today," said S Somanath, chairman of ISRO, during the space expo. At present, it reportedly costs ISRO between $10,000 and $15,000 to place a one-kilogram payload into orbit. Somanath, during the expo, said that the agency needs to bring the cost down to $5,000 and even $1,000 in the future. He added that the only way this would be possible is to make the rocket reusable. India does not have reusable technology in the launch vehicle sector. The Indian agency is reportedly already working on technologies that will help it make a reusable rocket.
Dominate the global market
"We would like to see such a rocket, a rocket which will be competitive enough, a rocket that will be cost-conscious, production-friendly, which will be built in India but operated globally for the services of the space sector," Somanath said. Further, the ISRO chairman mentioned that the space agency will retire the existing launch vehicles being used once the technology is ready.
Spacex reusable rocket
After numerous experiments and failures, Elon Musk's Spacex has deployed reusable rockets. It is worth noting that the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets are only partially reusable. However, Spacex is trying to develop a Starship- Super Heavy System which will be fully reusable. Musk had earlier said about the reusable rocket that the refurbishment and reuse of a booster are done for less than 10% of the price of a new booster.
Rocket test flights
Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) successfully completed its first test flight on 23 May 2016. ISRO is planning to conduct a landing experiment during the third quarter of 2022, in Chitradurga, Karnataka.
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