Vikas (rocket engine) explained

Vikas
Country Of Origin:India
Manufacturer:Godrej & Boyce and MTAR Technologies[1]
Status:Active
Type:liquid
Thrust:850 kN[2]
Chamber Pressure:6.2 MPa (62 bar) [3] [4]
Length:3.7m (12.1feet)(Vikas-4B)
Dry Weight:120 in (3,000 mm)
Used In:2nd stage of PSLV and GSLV
Main stage L110 of LVM3

The Vikas (a portmanteau from initials of VIKram Ambalal Sarabhai[5] [6]) is a family of hypergolic liquid fuelled rocket engines conceptualized and designed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre in the 1970s.[7] [8] The design was based on the licensed version of the Viking engine with the chemical pressurisation system.[9] The early production Vikas engines used some imported French components which were later replaced by domestically produced equivalents.[10] It is used in the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and LVM3 for space launch use.

Vikas engine is used to power the second stage of PSLV, boosters and second stage of GSLV Mark I and II and also the core stage of LVM3. The propellant loading for Vikas engine in PSLV, GSLV Mark I and II is 40 tons, while in LVM3 is 55 tons.

History

In 1974, Societe Europeenne de Propulsion agreed to transfer Viking engine technology in return for 100 man-years of engineering work from ISRO. The first engine built from the acquired technology was tested successfully in 1985 by Nambi Narayanan and his team at ISRO and named it Vikas.[11]

Technical details

The engine uses up about 40 metric tons of UDMH as fuel and Nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) as oxidizer with a maximum thrust of 725 kN. An upgraded version of the engine has a chamber pressure of 58.5 bar as compared to 52.5 bar in the older version and produces a thrust of 800 kN. The engine is capable of gimballing.

For launches from 2018 a 6% increased thrust version of the Vikas engine was developed. It was demonstrated on 29 March 2018 in the GSAT 6A launch second stage. It will be used for the four Vikas engines first stage boosters on future missions.[12]

Variants

TypeNozzleDiameter

(m)

Length(m)NozzleArea RatioChamberpressure

(MPa)

FuelMix RateFlow rate(t/sec)Thrust(kN)Specific Impulse (Ns/kg)Launcher Stages
Sea LevelVacuumSea LevelVacuum
Booster/first stage
Vikas-2~1.00~2.7513.95.30UDMH / 1.860.2469600.5680.524322756GSLV Mk.I L40H Strapon
Vikas-2B~1.00~2.7513.95.30UH 25 / 1.870.2710677.7765.525012824GSLV Mk.II L40H Strapon
Vikas-X~1.80~3.75UH 25 / 0.2805756.5839.026972991LVM3 L110 stage
Second stage
Vikas-4~1.50~3.505.35UDMH / 1.860.2498-|725.0||2903|GSLV Mk.I GS2 stage, PSLV PS2 stage|-|Vikas-4B|~1.80|~3.70||5.85|UH 25 / |1.71|0.2716|-804.52962GSLV Mk.II GS2 stage, PSLV PS2 stage
References:[13]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Manna from Mars ISRO's first mission to the red planet provides a fillip to its local component suppliers.. 14 February 2014. Business Today. 8 December 2013.
  2. http://www.b14643.de/Spacerockets_1/India/Vikas/Vikas.htm India's VIKAS engines and its relationship to the European Viking engines
  3. http://www.spaceflight101.com/pslv-launch-vehicle-information.html PSLV Launch Vehicle Information
  4. Web site: With eye on lunar mission, ISRO to test high-thrust Vikas engine . 21 May 2022.
  5. News: M Ramesh. Godrej Aerospace to make semi-cryogenic engines. The Hindu Business Line. 18 December 2014. en.
  6. Book: Narayanan, Nambi. Ready To Fire: How India and I Survived the ISRO Spy Case. Ram. Arun. 2018. Bloomsbury Publishing. 978-93-86826-27-5. 191.
  7. Web site: ISRO tests Vikas engine. 2001-12-03. 2012-12-11. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140323164318/http://www.hindu.com/2001/12/03/stories/2001120300481300.htm. 2014-03-23. The Hindu. dmy-all.
  8. Web site: Unsung hero of moon mission is sad but forgiving. K.S. Jayaraman. IANS. Thaindian.com. 2009-08-02. 2012-12-11. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180110175535/http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/unsung-hero-of-moon-mission-is-sad-but-forgiving_100226418.html. 2018-01-10. dmy-all.
  9. Book: Sutton. George Paul. History of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines. 2006. AIAA. 9781563476495. 799. en.
  10. Book: Sutton. George Paul. History of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines. 2006. AIAA. 9781563476495. 882. en.
  11. Book: Muthunayagam, A.E. Rao . P.V. Manoranjan . From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India's Space Journey . 10 December 2015 . 344. Harper Collins . 978-93-5177-690-1 . en.
  12. News: India tests upgraded engine tech in successful communications satellite launch . Clark . Stephen . Spaceflight Now . 29 March 2018 . 30 March 2018.
  13. Web site: India's VIKAS engines and its relationship to the European Viking engines. 11 December 2015. B14643 Internet Presentation to Space Launch Vehicles. Norbert Brügge. Brügge. Norbert. https://web.archive.org/web/20151222161122/http://www.b14643.de/Spacerockets_1/India/Vikas/Vikas.htm. 22 December 2015. dead. dmy-all.