Chennai, Jan 18 (FN Agency) The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfullydemonstrated restarting its Vikas Liquid engine that powers the Liquid Stages of launchvehicles, marking a milestone in the development of technologies for recovery of stages,leading to reusability in future launch vehicles. The Space Agency said it carried out the demonstration of restarting the Vikas liquid engineon Friday at its engine test facility at ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri. Vikas engine is the workhorse engine that powers the liquid stages of ISRO’s launch vehicles. This test marks a milestone in the development of technologies for recovery of stages, leadingto reusability in future launch vehicles.
A series of tests are being carried out to validate the restarting of the engine under differentconditions. In this test, the engine was fired for 60 seconds after which it was shut-off for a period of120 seconds followed by restart and firing for 7 seconds duration. All engine parameters during the test were normal and as expected. Previously, a shorter duration restart was carried out successfully in December 2024 witha shut-off time of 42 seconds and firing duration of 7 seconds each. Further tests are planned in the coming days to optimize the performance of the engineunder restart conditions.