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India Test-Fires Cryogenic Rocket Engine

Posted by michael on from the stand-waaaaaay-back dept.

alphakappa writes "Wired News reports that India has successfully testfired a cryogenic rocket engine that can be used to 'launch high-altitude satellites, send a man to the moon -- or build intercontinental ballistic missiles'. The rocket which typically has to fire for 12 minutes during flight was fired for 17 minutes during ground testing. So are we gonna see competition in the moon race? Remember, India has already spoken about sending a mission to the moon and it has joined the Galileo consortium along with China."

13 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. Re:not the moon by TomV · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was listening to a debate about outsourcing on BBC Radio the other night, and they pointed out that in Bangalore there's a lot of worry about all the call centre backroom IT jobs getting outsourced to China, where the costs are so low that India can't possibly compete.

    I agree that the Moon isn't the *real* purpose of the Indian space programme, but, just as with the US 30 years ago, aiming high helps to hit the lower targets, like comsats, earth imaging and so forth, not to mention the huge boost to national self-esteem and all the benefits that can bring in sheer morale terms - when you've got to the Moon, what challenge can you honestly say is too big to even attempt?

  2. am i the only one confused ? by kettlehead · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "manned mission to the moon...."
    Am i the only one confused. Indias moon ambitions were said to be restricted to only firing a unmanned galileo type mission to the moon. Which is pretty simple considering that they were planning to use the existing GSLV(Geo-Stationary Launch Vehicle) set-up. Why the sudden shift to a manned mission? A manned mission to the moon will never happen in India because of a number of reasons most notably the fact that we spend peanuts on space, compare isro's(indian space research org.) budget to NASA.

    Also i thought GSLV - the satellite launch vehicle was totally indigenously built, Though WIRED seems to claim that the engine was Russian!
    Anyway i think its a great achievement considering the amount India spends on space research.

  3. Re:Before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    No need for the stolen "theme", I am glad that they are able to develop their own rocket technology... which I guess that means they no longer need the economic aid, right?

    Just like China I guess, they can send people in orbit... I guess they no longer need foreign monetary aid.

    As far as I can see, it is all good news now. It is gonna save us a bunch of money now, oh wait...

  4. Re:moon race? nah... by Brahmastra · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This ICBM nonsense seems to be floating all over the place. Only a bloody idiot would use a cryogenic engine for an ICBM. You don't need to build a god damned geostationery satellite launch vehicle to build an ICBM. India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which has been operational for many years now can easily be converted to an operational ICBM. Cryogenic engines just add the need for a lot more ground facilities for a launch. There just isn't a need for an ICBM since China and Pakistan are right next door to India. The attitude seems to be.. "oh India's launching satellites? It must be for something bad." Get over it assholes.

  5. great news! by davejenkins · · Score: 4, Interesting

    prices for thowing things into orbit will only come down when there is some straightforward competition. It is good to see more players in the field, and it is good to see various technologies tried-- I doubt this is the most efficient, but let them give it a shot.

    Rocketry is yes-- rocket science-- but certainly within the grasp of "second tier" tech nations like China, India, Brazil, and Korea.

    --

    davejenkins.com |

    1. Re:great news! by suitti · · Score: 2, Interesting
      We have straitforward competition already, more or less. Arian, Proton, H2, Long March, Taurus, Pegasus, Titan, Atlas, Delta, Shuttle, etc.

      Lots of countries restrict export of payloads, leading to restriction of competition.

      One problem is that there aren't enough paying payloads to support these launchers.

      The biggest lifters, Saturn V and Energia have been discontinued - despite economy of scale. The shuttle has enjoyed continued funding despite high cost. The ISS would have been MUCH cheaper if lifted by Saturn V or Energia.

      Also canceled were X-15 and Dyna-Soar concepts. The X-15 made it to sub-orbital space flight.

      Development of a new rocket is difficult and expensive. The N1 never successfully flew. It's not because the Russians couldn't build rockets. When we talk about something that's difficult, we call it "rocket science" (it's really technology - rocket engineering).

      Several inovative projects have been aborted due to costs, risks or technical difficulty. Some of these promise cheaper rides. We don't have a way of optimizing the funding of projects in a way that ensures success.

      A case in point. The National Aerospace Plane project was canceled due to cost and/or technical difficulties. EELV expects modest gains, and funds two launcher families. One project accepts high risks and fails, the other accpets low risks, and double spends to ensure that if one launcher fails, that there is still a capabile indiginous launcher available. The EELV project could not accept higher risk within cost bounds.

      --
      -- Stephen.
  6. Re:The government should try to solve that problem by sujan · · Score: 2, Interesting


    Thats why, pack up, go there and educate those people.

    Yeah, according to you, close all those schools that are doing these researches, maybe even stop educating people, and somehow do this magic trick that will make the caste system go away.

    How will the government 'dismantle' caste system?

  7. Re:ICBM ??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The U.S. missile fleet is all solid fueled. So is the Russian fleet. Even the boomers carry solid fueled missiles. You want to try and fuel missiles in a hardened silo ? Good luck

  8. Light the flames by psylent · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ok, let's look at this one bullet at a time
    1. How come no one has started talking about feeding the poor and increasing literacy levels? They have? Oh look, ye wise learned ones. Do you think that space research is only to leave the surface with just adventure in mind? Satellites beam educational programmes to community televisions. They map our natural resources and planners can optimize utilization. It is a society very different from other countries so accept it. There is no benefit measuring other cultures using the same yardstick. It works for us, be happy. There are deficiencies in our society too and corrective programmes have a lot of inertia.
    2. The caste system is officially abolished. It worked for the society at one point of time as described in the "Laws of Manu" (yes our history goes back quite a bit, might not be very well documented but good enough for scholars to study) and it doesnt work in today's society and we try to adapt. Politicians exploit this issue too like all other issues to line their pocket but lets not discuss politics. Women always had freedom in our society, the issues of sati and purdah were because of influences on society due to twists and turns of history, I am not (and maybe most of you are not) historians and we do not have the expertise of analysing this in detail. What is more interesting is the reverse backlash that is taking place. Some communities that have traditionally been oppressed had been assigned quotas (supposed to be in place for a few decades) to raise the average level. This worked for sometime however currently I feel that this is going overboard. Once a structure is in place, it is very difficult to dismantle it (eg: the USA is supposed to be free of racial hatred, dude I am an Indian living here in the US and I know how much of that is true).
    3. Most of you would just link India to outsourcing and look at this forum as a sounding board for your pent up frustration. If it works to calm you down then it is good for you. This is slashdot, I realise that it is highly US centric. This is a byproduct of capitalism so I have nothing to add. I dont like it either when people lose jobs here and jobs are shipped to other countries. Solution I can propose before I go and grab breakfast: add value to what you are doing, it will help (doesnt sound right, does it?).
  9. Re:not the moon by justins · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Poverty :- The country's wealth is divided by the 90-10 rule. i.e. 10% of the population has 90% of the wealth.

    Wow! If that's your definition of a serious poverty problem we'd better get to work fixing America, too.
    --
    Now before I get modded down, I be to remind whoever might read this that what I am saying is FACT. - bogaboga
  10. Re:moon race? nah... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Professor Jonathan Vos Post here, forgot my password on /. over a year ago.

    YES! India will be in Moon-race 2: The Sequal.

    China, last month, becamse the 3rd country to put a person in orbit. Japan said "Big deal, we could have done that 20 years ago" but is actually in the race, and has been openly planning Moon Bases for 20 years (especially at Shimizu and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries).

    India will be the 4th country to put a person in space, unless Japan bothers first. The European Space SAgency (ESA) is deeply in the race. Several countries have suggested that they, too, are in the race. For instance, Pakistan (which has been playing "Escalatio" (as Tom Leher puts it) with India forever. Brazil, the space superpower of South America, will do it. Nigeria or Saudi Arabia or some other Petro-nation will do it, with a propane-oxygen or kerosine-LOX rocket.

    I know all this as I was in the Moon-base design group at Rockwell International, presenting papers at international conferences and talking with japanese, Chinese, Russian, European, and Indian "rocket scientists."

    There IS a new space race. That's part of why Emperor Bush II will announce our participation in this round either 17 Dec 2003 (Wright Bros. First Flight Centernnial) or State of the Union Address.

    Moon-race 2. This time, we stay. This time, it matters.

  11. Re:ICBM ??? by twiddlingbits · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The USA did it for years with the Titan ICBM. I work with a guy who commanded a silo, and they used LOX and Nitrogen Tetroxide as fuel. He knew the folks who were killed in the explosion of a Titan in it's silo in Rock, KS due to a refueling problem. The CURRENT ICBMs are all solid fueled which is obviously much safer to handle.

  12. Maybe not by tqft · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Strategically Pakistan is a dead end for end India - no energy resources, strategic position/commodities and lots of friends who would get angry (including 100+m people internal to India). And Pakistan can also hit back.

    Who has all this stuff that India will want and need and will be dumped by their friends if India grab for it?

    Look at a map.

    Why has India being building a blue water navy?

    Where could they go with it?

    Australia. Unless you think India wants to take on another 100+m Muslims by annexing Indonesia.

    We won't be a target for India in the next 10 years but by then India's population/resource profile is going to look a lot nastier than it is now.

    Remove tinfoil hat

    --
    The Singularity is closer than you think
    Quant