Avatar (

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: ,

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: ; from "Aerobic Vehicle for Transatmospheric Hypersonic Aerospace TrAnspoRtation") is a concept study for a robotic single-stage reusable

spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can flight, fly and gliding flight, glide as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and function as a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbit ...

capable of horizontal takeoff and landing, by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation. The mission concept is for low cost military and commercial

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

launches. This spaceplane concept is unrelated to the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) RLV Technology Demonstration Programme (RLV-TD).

Concept

The idea is to develop a

vehicle that can take off from conventional airfields. Its liquid air cycle engine would collect air in the

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

on the way up, liquefy it, separate

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

and store it on board for subsequent flight beyond the atmosphere. The Avatar, a

reusable launch vehicle A reusable launch vehicle has parts that can be recovered and reflown, while carrying payloads from the surface to outer space. Rocket stages are the most common launch vehicle parts aimed for reuse. Smaller parts such as fairings, booster ...

, was first announced in May 1998 at the Aero India 98 exhibition held at Bangalore. Avatar is projected to weigh 25 tons, of which 60% of that mass would be

liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen () is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecule, molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point (thermodynamics), critical point of 33 Kelvins, ...

fuel. The oxygen required by the vehicle for combustion in outer space would be collected from the atmosphere during takeoff, thus reducing the need to carry oxygen during launch. The notional specification is for a payload weighing up to to

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

and to withstand up to 100 launches and reentries. If built, Avatar would take off horizontally like a conventional airplane from a conventional airstrip using turbo-ramjet engines that burn hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen. During this cruising phase, an on-board system would collect air from the atmosphere, from which liquid oxygen would be separated and stored and used to burn the stored hydrogen in the final flight phase to attain orbit. The vehicle would be designed to permit at least one hundred launches and atmospheric reentries.

Feasibility study

The Avatar concept study was commissioned by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation in 2001. India's space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has no connection with the project. Air Commodore Raghavan Gopalaswami, who headed the study, made a presentation on the

at the global conference on propulsion at

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, United States on July 10, 2001.

References

External links

Concept of AVATAR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avatar (Spacecraft) Hydrogen-powered aircraft Hypersonic aircraft Space launch vehicles of India Space programme of India Ramjet-powered aircraft Former proposed space launch system concepts Spacecraft propulsion Spaceplanes Proposed aircraft of India V-tail aircraft Satish Dhawan Space Centre

Concept

Feasibility study

See also

References

External links