Bengaluru: On Saturday ISRO successfully demonstrated a new technology with the Inflatable Aerodynamic Shock Absorber (IAD) which it claimed to be a multi-use game changer for future missions, including to Mars and Venus.
An IAD designed and developed by ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC) has been successfully tested in a “Rohini” sounding rocket by the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS).
The IAD was initially folded and kept in the rocket’s hold, according to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), based in Bengaluru.
At about 84 km above sea level, the IAD was blown up and descended into the atmosphere with the useful part of a sounding rocket.
The pneumatic inflation system was developed by ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC), he said. The IAD systematically reduced payload speed through drag and followed the intended trajectory.
“This is the first time that an IAD has been specifically designed for full stadium recovery. All mission objectives have been successfully demonstrated,” the space agency said in a statement.
“The IAD has enormous potential in a variety of space applications, such as recovering spent rocket stages, landing payloads on Mars or Venus, and creating space habitats for human spaceflight missions,” he said. .
Rohini probe missiles are regularly used for flight demonstrations of new technologies developed by ISRO and Indian and foreign scientists.
During Saturday’s flight, new elements such as a micro-video imaging system that captured the bloom and flight of IAD, a miniature software-defined radio telemetry transmitter, a MEMS-based acoustic sensor (microelectromechanical systems) and a series of new methodologies were successfully deployed during Saturday’s flight tested, ISRO said.
“These will later be incorporated into large missions. Sound rockets provide an exciting platform for experiments in the upper atmosphere,” he said.
“This demonstration opens a door for cost-effective recovery of the phase used using inflatable air cushion technology and this IAD technology could also be used in future ISRO missions to Venus and Mars,” said ISRO President S Somanath. who attended the launch.