ISRO successfully conducts key rocket engine test for Chandrayaan-3
Recently the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully completed the test of the main rocket engine for Chandrayaan-3.
- The flight acceptance heat test of the CE-20 cryogenic engine has been conducted at ISRO’s Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.
- This engine will power the cryogenic upper stage of the LVM3 vehicle that launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
- The cryogenic engine / cryogenic stage is the final stage of a space launch vehicle. It uses propellant at extremely low temperatures.
- It is more fuel efficient. It provides more thrust per kilogram of propellant burned than solid and Earth-storable liquid propellant rocket stages.
- Liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2) are used as propellants in cryogenic engines.
Key components of cryogenic rocket engine:
- Combustion / Thrust Chamber, Igniter, Fuel Injector, Fuel Cryo Pumps, Oxidizer Cryo Pumps, Gas Turbine, Cryo Valves, Regulators, Fuel Tanks and Rocket Engine Nozzles.
- Chandrayaan-3 will be launched in late 2023. It is the follow up mission of Chandrayaan-2. It will have end-to-end capability to perform a safe landing on the lunar surface and a rover.
- Chandrayaan-2 was launched in 2019, while Chandrayaan-1 was launched in 2008.
Source – The Hindu
