MESSAGE BOARD NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Indian scientists have designed a reusable space plane, Avatar, which they say can launch satellites at an extremely low cost and also take tourists on a ride into the space.
Avatar, which had been under wraps because of its defence potential, was unveiled on Tuesday in the US by retired air commodore, Raghavan Gopalaswami.
A pioneer in liquid propulsion technology, Gopalaswami is also the former chairman of the Bharat Dynamics Limited, and the brain behind this low-profile project financed by the Defence Research Development Organisation.
The project team includes scientists from Defence Research Development Laboratory, which designed Agni, Prithvi and other missiles, and CIM Technologies, a private company based in Hyderabad.
The unique design of Avatar, which can be launched a 100 times and produces its own fuel in flight, has been patented in India, Gopalaswami said before flying off to the US to make a presentation at the global conference on propulsion at Salt Lake City.
Applications for registration of the design have been filed in patent offices in the US, Germany, China and Russia, he said.
Tell us what you think of this report
