ISRO carries out demonstration of restarting Vikas liquid engine

Vikas engine successfully underwent the first throttling demonstration hot test. The test demonstrated a targeted 67% thrust level throttling for a duration of 43 s. Throttlable liquid engines in launch vehicles facilitate booster stage recovery. Photo: X/@isro

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully carried out a demonstration of restarting its Vikas liquid engine at a test facility at Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri, the space agency said on Saturday (January 18, 2025).

The space agency said the Vikas engine is the workhorse that powers the liquid stages of its launch vehicles.

This test on January 17 marks a milestone in the development of technologies for recovery of stages, leading to reusability in future launch vehicles, according to an ISRO statement.

A series of tests are being carried out to validate the restarting of the engine under different conditions.

“In this test, the engine was fired for 60 seconds after which it was shut-off for a period of 120 seconds followed by restart and firing for seven seconds duration. All engine parameters during the test were normal and as expected,” the ISRO said.

Previously, a shorter duration restart was carried out successfully in December 2024 with a shut-off time of 42 seconds and firing duration of seven seconds each.

Further tests are planned in coming days to optimise the performance of the engine under restart conditions, the statement read.

Also, ISRO Chairperson V Narayanan flagged off the core liquid stage (L110) of ISRO’s LVM3 launch vehicle on Friday to the launch complex at Sriharikota.

The stage was designed and developed by Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) during the development of the LVM3 launch vehicle and is powered by twin Vikas engines with a propellant loading of 110 tonnes, the ISRO said.

“This stage is the tenth L110 liquid stage integrated at ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri and is earmarked for the LVM3 mission under a commercial agreement between NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) and AST SpaceMobile & Science, LLC to launch their BlueBird Block 2 satellite,” the agency said in a statement.