ISRO demonstrates restart of Vikas engine
by Simon Mansfield
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jan 20, 2025

ISRO successfully demonstrated the capability to restart its Vikas liquid engine during a test conducted on January 17, 2025, at the ISRO Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri. The Vikas engine, a critical component powering the liquid stages of ISRO's launch vehicles, is instrumental in advancing technologies for stage recovery and future launch vehicle reusability.

The recent test involved firing the engine for 60 seconds, followed by a shutdown period of 120 seconds. After this interval, the engine was restarted and fired for an additional 7 seconds. Performance metrics during the test were consistent with expectations. This follows an earlier test conducted in December 2024, which successfully validated a shorter restart sequence, featuring a 42-second shutdown and 7-second firing duration. ISRO plans to continue testing to refine engine performance under varying restart conditions.

Core Liquid stage for LVM3 flagged off to Sriharikota

On January 17, 2025, the Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO officiated the dispatch of the core liquid stage (L110) of the LVM3 launch vehicle to Sriharikota. This milestone event was attended by the Directors of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC SHAR), and ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC). This marks the 10th L110 liquid stage to be integrated at the ISRO Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri.

The L110 stage, designed and developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), plays a pivotal role in the LVM3 launch vehicle. It is powered by twin Vikas engines, each with a propellant capacity of 110 tonnes. The current stage is designated for a commercial mission facilitated by a collaboration between NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) and AST and Science, LLC, aimed at deploying the BlueBird Block 2 satellite.

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