ISRO successfully tests IAD technology to land missions on Mars, Venus

Tags: Science and Technology

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on September 3 successfully test-fired the Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD) which will be used to land payloads on Mars or Venus in the future.

Important facts

• IAD was designed, developed and successfully test-flown by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) on a Rohini-300 (RH300 Mk II) rocket.

•  It was tested from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

• The IAD is being developed to reduce an object coming down from space through the atmosphere.

• As its name suggests, the IAD serves to slow down an object falling through the atmosphere.

• For demonstration, the IAD, made of Kevlar fabric coated with Polychloroprene, was packed into the payload of the rocket.

• The pneumatic system used to propel the IAD was developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC), Waliamala.

• The 6.3 m tall, Rohini RH 300 Mk II sounding rocket had a lift-off mass of 552 kg.