The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully tested a pair of indigenously built scramjet engines in a flight conducted at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV) was a solid rocket booster used for the test at supersonic conditions.  At lift-off, the ATV carrying the scramjet engines weighed 3,277kg.

The vehicle lifted off at the scheduled time of 6am India Standard TIme (IST). 

With the mission, which has made India the fourth country to demonstrate the scramjet engine test, ISRO aims to create an air breathing propulsion system.

The engines have been designed to use hydrogen as fuel, and oxygen from the atmospheric air as the oxidiser.

"ISRO aims to create an air breathing propulsion system."

ISRO said that all the scheduled flight events were performed, including burnout of booster rocket stage and ignition of the second stage solid rocket.

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Several critical technologies such as the ignition of air breathing engines at supersonic speed, holding the flame at supersonic speed, air intake mechanism and fuel injection systems have also been successfully demonstrated during the test flight.

Landing in the Bay of Bengal nearly 320km from Sriharikota after a 300s flight, the ATV vehicle was successfully tracked during its flight from the ground stations at Sriharikota.

ISRO also stated that while developing the scramjet engine, it had to deal with various technological challenges, which include the design and development of Hypersonic engine air intake, the supersonic combustor, and the development of materials withstanding very high temperatures.

During the development phase, the agency also had to ensure consistent performance and operability of the engine across a wide range of flight speeds, in addition to proper thermal management and ground testing of the engines.

Image: ISRO's ATV rocket lifts off with two scramjet engines from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Photo: courtesy of ISRO.