Space Capsule Recovery Experiment

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SRE-1
ISRO
COSPAR ID2007-001C Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.29711
Mission duration12 days
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer
ISRO
Launch mass550 kilograms (1,210 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date10 January 2007, 03:54 (2007-01-10UTC03:54Z) UTC
Rocket
ISRO
End of mission
Landing date22 January 2007, 04:16 (2007-01-22UTC04:17Z) UTC
Landing siteBay of Bengal
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
 

The Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SCRE or more commonly SRE or SRE-1) is an Indian experimental

UTC on January 22.[1][2][3]

Overview

SRE-1 was designed to demonstrate the capability to recover an orbiting space capsule, and the technology of an orbiting platform for performing experiments in

Thermal Protection System, navigation, guidance and control, hypersonic aero-thermodynamics, management of communication blackout, deceleration and flotation system and recovery operations.[4][5][6][7] The information obtained from this technology and experiment is being applied to the design of India's Gaganyaan
crewed orbital capsule.

Design

SRE-1 is a 555 kg capsule. It comprises aero-thermo structure, internal structure, Mission Management Unit, Altitude sensors and Inertial measurement unit, S-band transponder with unique belt array antenna embedded to ATS, power and electronics packages to support deceleration and flotation system. It also houses two microgravity payloads. It has a sphere-cone-flare configuration with a spherical nose of about 0.5 m radius, base diameter of 2 m and 1.6 m height. The parachute, pyro devices, avionics packages of triggering unit and sequencer, telemetry and tracking system and sensors for measurement of system performance parameters are placed inside the SRE-1 capsule. Parachutes for SRE capsule were provided by ADRDE.[8]

To withstand the heat of re-entry, the

carbon-carbon composite TPS, which, along with the silica tiles tested with the SRE-1, could find use in future reusable spacecraft such as ISRO's planned Reusable Launch Vehicle
.

Re-entry

SRE-1 was traveling around the Earth in a circular polar orbit at an altitude of 637 kilometers. In preparation for its reentry, SRE-1 was put into an elliptical orbit with a

ISTRAC at Bangalore on January 19, 2007. The critical de-boost operations were executed from SCC, Bangalore supported by a network of ground stations at Bangalore, Lucknow, Sriharikota, Mauritius, Biak in Indonesia, Saskatoon in Canada, Svalbard
in Norway besides shipborne and airborne terminals.

On January 22, 2007, the re-orientation of SRE-1 capsule for de-boost operations commenced at 08:42 am

ablative material
and silica tiles on its outer surface.

By the time SRE-1 descended to an altitude of 5 km,

aerodynamic braking had considerably reduced its velocity to 101 m/s (364 km/h). Pilot and drogue parachute
deployments helped in further reducing its velocity to 47 m/s (169 km/h).

Splashdown and recovery

The main

UTC). The flotation system, which was immediately triggered, kept the capsule afloat. Recovery operations were supported and carried out by the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy
using ships, aircraft and helicopters.

Experiments and results

During its stay in orbit, the following two experiments on board SRE-1 were successfully conducted under microgravity conditions.

Performance of Silica TPS tiles in conical region of capsule was satisfactory and tile surfaces were found intact with some minor handling related damage during recovery operations. The spacecraft remained afloat for approximately two hours in seawater before recovery, causing minor cracks and seawater deposits on tile surfaces.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ PSLV to put recoverable satellite into orbit, The Hindu December 22, 2006
  2. ^ The Hindu: PSLV-C7 launch a success January 11, 2007
  3. ^ ISRO Ready For Launch Of Multi-Mission PSLV Archived 2016-04-19 at the Wayback Machine January 05, 2007
  4. ^ China View: India's first space capsule returns to earth Archived 2008-05-02 at the Wayback Machine January 22, 2007
  5. ^ ISRO Press Release Archived 2008-05-14 at the Wayback Machine January 22, 2007
  6. The Telegraph
    January 22, 2007
  7. ^ "Space Capsule Recovery Experiment(SRE)" (PDF). 21 November 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  8. ^ Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, Agra, provided the parachutes Archived 2012-02-22 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ a b "Welcome to ISAMPE". www.isampe.org. Archived from the original on 2018-05-15. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  10. ^ "Testata con successo nella galleria al plasma del CIRA la nuova capsula spaziale indiana". www.capuaonline.it. 3 October 2006. Archived from the original on 13 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
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