Space Tourism in India is going to Become a Reality Soon
In future, Indians could travel to space at Rs. 80 Lakh per ticket on a Made In India space shuttle
ISRO Space Tourism concept hinges on the successful development of re-usable rockets which will then be meant for ferrying tourists.
The ISRO has been developing Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) rocket for a number of years now which includes its first flight in 2016.
As part of the development program for reusable rockets way back on May 23, 2016, ISRO had successfully tested the Reusable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) when a 1.75 tonne orbiter was hoisted into a sub-orbital flight on a special rocket some 65 kilometres above the Bay of Bengal from Sriharikota. Since then the RLV-TD has gone through multiple flight test.
S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO once said “We are working silently on reusable rocket technology, with a very low budget, low cost and low investment.”
The RLV-TD mission consists of 4 major steps before the development of the final Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV).
- Hypersonic Flight Experiment (HEX) – it was conducted in May 2016.
- Landing Experiment (LEX)
- Return Flight Experiment (REX)
- Scramjet Propulsion Experiment (SPEX)
If all goes as per plan India’s full-fledged test of reusable launch vehicle may happen only in the 2030’s. It is believed that ISRO’s reusable technology would be more cost-effective compared to western technologies.
