ISRO launches futuristic rocket, India joins select club of nations

The test of the scramjet engine puts India in a select club of nations including Australia and the United States.

Chennai: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully conducted scramjet engine test at 6 am on Sunday at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80 kilometres from Chennai.

According to reports, the test of the scramjet engine puts India in a select club of nations including Australia and the United States who have conducted such tests.

The successful test of the futuristic rocket will help reduce launch cost of weather satellite INSAT-3DR by 10 times, by reducing the amount of oxidiser to be carried along with the fuel.

Meanwhile, the launch of weather satellite INSAT-3DR with the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-MkII) has been postponed to September 8 from August 28.

The postponement has been made because while carrying out the tests there was a technical issue found with a satellite component, which has now been fixed, SDSC director P Kunhi Krishnan said.

He added that the GSLV rocket that would carry the weather satellite INSAT-3DR has been fully assembled and the satellite would be mounted on the rocket in 3-4 days.

ISRO will also launch ScatSat, a weather monitoring and forecasting satellite with polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) at the end of September. It will be a co-passenger to an Algerian satellite, said reports.

President Pranab Mukherjee congratulated ISRO for the successful test.

"Hearty congratulations ISRO on successful test of futuristic scramjet rocket engine, India is proud of you," he said in a tweet.

(This article first appeared in Deccan Chronicle)