ISRO on Saturday successfully demonstrated the Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD), a new technology that it says is a game-changer with multiple applications for future missions including Mars and Venus.
The IAD, designed and developed by ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC), was successfully test-fired in the ‘Rohini’ sounding rocket from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launch Station (TERLS).
The Bengaluru-headquartered Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said the IAD was initially folded and stored in the rocket’s loading compartment.
At an altitude of 84 km, the IAD inflated and descended through the atmosphere, in an inflatable rocket. The inflation pneumatic system was developed by ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC), he said.
The IAD systematically reduced the load’s velocity through aerodynamic drag and followed the predicted trajectory.
“This is the first time an IAD has been developed,” the space agency said in a statement.
“The IAD has great potential in a variety of space applications, including retrieving spent rockets, landing payloads on Mars or Venus, and providing space habitats for human spaceflight missions,” he said.
Rohini sounding rockets are regularly used for flight demonstration of new technologies by ISRO and scientists from India and abroad.
On Saturday’s flight, new components of the IAD, such as a Micro Video Imaging System, IAD development and flight, a small software-defined radio telemetry transmitter, a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System)-based acoustic sensor and several new techniques were flown. It was successfully tested, ISRO said.
“These will be put into major missions later. Sounding rockets provide an interesting platform for testing in the upper atmosphere,” he said.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath said, “This demonstration paves the way for cost-effective stage recovery using inflatable aerodynamic decelerator technology, and this IID technology could serve ISRO’s future missions to Venus and Mars.”
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