With the Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) recently announced that it had successfully tested the new technology (IAD). Let’s examine what it is and how it will benefit ISRO.
With the use of the Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator and other applications, ISRO hopes to scale Mars and Venus. A technology known as an “Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator,” or IAD for short, is utilized for an atmospheric entry payload so that the payload is not destroyed upon swift entry into a planetary atmosphere owing to the collision.
About Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD)
An atmospheric entry payload approach is known as an “inflatable aerodynamic decelerator,” or IAD. The inflatable aerodynamic decelerator is composed of an inflated envelope and an inflatant (anything that inflates the envelope, such as air or helium).
It decelerates the lander as it inflates like a balloon as it enters the atmosphere.
The inflatant is made to fill the inflatable envelope to the point where it surrounds the payload intended to enter a planet’s or satellite’s atmosphere and creates aerodynamic forces that slow it down.
IAD is intended to enhance drag as soon as a spacecraft enters the atmosphere of any planetary body, including Earth, Mars, or even the Moon. A closed, gas-pressured body and the inflating gas keep it in shape.
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IAD by ISRO
Vikram Sarabhai Space Center designed and created ISRO’s most recent IAD. According to them, the IAD that ISRO tested on Saturday was inflated at a height of around 84 km, and the sounding rocket’s contents fell onto it as it passed through the atmosphere. It has a booster motor installed. It also features an ejectable spin rocket. Kevlar fabric, a very tough synthetic fibre that is also heat resistant to survive variations in temperature and atmospheric pressure, is used to make the inflated structure. Polychloroprene, an oil and wax-resistant rubber that can also tolerate extremely high temperatures, is layered on top of it.
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The pneumatic inflation system for the IAD system was developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), an R&D division of ISRO. According to ISRO, the inflating system employs compressed nitrogen that is kept in a bottle.
Throughout the test flight, it has consistently reduced the payload’s velocity due to aerodynamic drag while preserving the predicted trajectory.
Where is it going to be used by ISRO?
The IAD will assist ISRO in successfully completing a variety of space-related activities, such as recovering rocket stages that have already been fired in order to land payloads on missions to other planetary bodies. An IAD designed specifically for wasted stage recovery has never been used before.
The head of ISRO and secretary of the Department of Space, S. Somnath, said after the launch, “This demonstration opens a gateway for cost-effective spent stage recovery using the Inflatable Aerodynamics Decelerator technology and this IAD technology can also be used in ISRO’s future missions to Venus and Mars.” Interplanetary missions are so undoubtedly one area that ISRO hopes to research.
About ISRO
- The Department of Space of the Government of India oversees ISRO, which has its main office in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
- Its goal is to conduct planetary exploration and space science research while utilising space technology for national development.
- Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL) is an ISRO marketing division responsible for the commercialization of space products, providing technical consulting services, and transferring ISRO-developed technologies.
- The current ISRO chairman is Shri S. Somanath.
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