The Americans recently retired their one of the most successful space shuttles, the Atlantis. Now, India is working towards realising its dream - to create a re-usable satellite launch vehicle. An engineering model of what scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) call the re-usable launch vehicle, is currently housed at a secure and secret facility in Kerala. Covered with special heat resistant tiles, soon it will roar skywards. Read more
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is co-operating with India's Defence Research and Development Organisation on a hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HSTDV), with the target of conducting a flight test in 2008.
Indian scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), speaking at the second European Conference for Aerospace Sciences in Brussels, have provided details of the reusable launch vehicle demonstrator's sub-orbital flight, due for 2009. To be launched on an 11.5m -tall solid rocket booster and using 9,000kg of propellant, the X-37-like 1,400kg vehicle is 6.5m long with a 3.6m wingspan. Flight apogee will be 67km and it has a downrange of 650km. The vehicle will splash down in the Indian Ocean.