First Indigenously Designed High Thrust Cryogenic Rocket Engine: Overview

First Indigenously Designed High Thrust Cryogenic Rocket Engine: Overview

Question : The first indigenously designed high thrust cryogenic rocket engine has recently been successfully tested by ISRO. Provide its overview.

- India’s first indigenously designed, developed High Thrust cryogenic rocket engine was successfully endurance hot tested for 800 seconds recently

- The engine generated a nominal thrust of 19 tonnes at the ISRO Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri

- Duration is around 25% more than engine burn duration in flight

- Engine will power the Cryogenic stage/C25 which is the upper stage of the next generation GSLV Mk-III Launch of ISRO

- This is capable of launching 4 tonne class satellites

- Cryogenic engine of the C25 stage operates on Gas Generator Cycle and employs low temperature propellants which are as follows:

- Liquid Hydrogen/LH2 at 20 Kelvin or -253 degree celsius

- Liquid Oxygen(LOX) at 80 Kelvin or -193 degree celsius

- Various subsystems of the engine are as follows:

- Regeneratively cooled Thrust Chamber

- Gas Generator

- LOX High Speed Turbo Pump System

- LH2 High Speed Turbo-Pump System

- Low control components

- Close loop mixture ratio control system

- Pyrogen igniters

- Fluid Systems

- Turbo-pump operates at speed of 36,000 rpm with power level of 2MW

- High performance cryogenic engine was conceived, configured and realised by Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre/LPSC

- This is the lead centre of the ISRO which develops liquid propulsion systems for the Indian Space programme

- Engine design was a completely in-house with experts from sectors such as control components, combustion, fabrication, fluid dynamics, thermal structural metallurgy, rotor dynamics and more

- Fabrication of major subsystem of the engine was through Indian industries

- Assembly and Integration of the engine and testing were carried out by the ISRO Propulsion Complex

- LPSC has also developed a cryogenic upper stage of around 12.5 tonne propellant loading

- This was successfully flight tested in GSLV Mk-II

Facts and Stats

- C-25 stage has a higher propellant loading of around 27 tonnes as against 12.5 tonnes

- It has a high engine thrust of 19 tonne vs 7.5 tonne

- This successful endurance hot test of the first high thrust cryogenic engine is the 10th test in the series

- It has been executed as part of engine closely matching with pre-test prediction made using in house developed cryogenic engine mathematical modelling and simulation software

- Prior to the engine realisation test, series of subsystem level tests were carried out

- Further tests are planned in High Altitude conditions and in stage configuration before flight stage realisation

- ISRO seeks to build reliance through mastery of this high performance cryogenic propulsion technology