India launches ‘mini space shuttle’ prototype, joins race for reusable rocket system

India’s space agency has announced the successful launch of a space shuttle prototype, the first step toward developing a reusable space travel system.

Launched on Monday, the craft was a small-scale unmanned prototype of the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV-TD). According to a report by BBC News, the craft was expected to reach an altitude of 43 miles before coming back to Earth and landing at sea.

Costing around $14 million, the RLV-TD took more than a decade to develop. The prototype that was launched on is approximately six times smaller than the final version. The ISRO said it did not design the ship to survive the test flight. It was designed to collect data on navigation, hypersonic speed, and re-entry systems.

Most tests planned for the future

According to NDTV, the ISRO is slated to test two more prototypes before the ultimate version takes off around 2030.

On Twitter, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the “industrious efforts” of ISRO scientists behind the historic launch.

The launch comes after the US wrapped up its space shuttle program in 2011. Several countries and a handful of private companies have stepped in to fill the void. In addition to India, Europe, Japan, and Russia are all developing reusable shuttle technology. In the US, companies Blue Origin and SpaceX are both developing space travel systems. However, India is the only entity currently working with a winged space craft.

Earlier this month, SpaceX hit a major milestone when it successfully landed one of its Falcon-9 rockets at sea after launching for the second time ever.

The Falcon-9 rocket came back to a floating platform off the Florida coast only a few minutes after it sent a Japanese communications satellite into orbit. SpaceX first accomplished this feat in April.

This latest effort was all the more impressive because this booster rocket was moving considerably faster during its descent to Earth. SpaceX has said getting back boosters that deliver geostationary satellites will almost always be very difficult as a result of high speed vital to put those assets in the appropriate section of the sky.

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Image credit: EPA

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