SCRAMJET ENGINE

Scramjet Engine

A scramjet engine is an advanced version of the Ramjet engine in which the engine remains supersonic or greater than the speed of sound. Scramjet is also operated at high speed upto atleast 15 MACH.

The scramjet engine is developed by ISRO. Specification of this engine is to use Hydrogen as a fuel and oxygen from the atmospheric air as the oxidizer. Totally 28  experimental tests have been conducted of scramjet engine with a speed of MACH 6.

Credit: ISRO 

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 A dual-mode ramjet (DMRJ) is a type of jet engine where a ramjet transforms into a scramjet over Mach 4-8 range, which means it can efficiently operate both in subsonic and supersonic combustor modes.

     An important development in ISRO’s Air Breathing Propulsion Project (ABPP) occurred on August 28, 2016, which was the successful flight testing of its Scramjet.

     This first experimental mission of ISRO’s Scramjet Engine towards the realisation of an Air Breathing Propulsion System was successfully conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

Credit: ISRO 

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 After a smooth countdown of 12 hours, the solid rocket booster carrying the Scramjet Engines lifted off at 0600 hrs (6:00 am) IST.  

The important flight events, namely, burn out of booster rocket stage, ignition of second stage solid rocket, functioning of Scramjet engines for 5 seconds followed by burn out of the second stage took place exactly as planned.

    After a flight of about 300 seconds, the vehicle touched down in the Bay of Bengal, approximately 320 km from Sriharikota. The vehicle was successfully tracked during its flight from the ground stations at Sriharikota.

ISRO’s Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), which is an advanced sounding rocket, was the solid rocket booster used for this recent test of Scramjet engines at supersonic conditions.  ATV carrying Scramjet engines weighed 3277 kg at lift-off.

Credit: ISRO

India is the fourth country to demonstrate the flight testing of a Scramjet Engine.