(Earth Times) March 8, 2010
As the United States winds down its space shuttle programme, emerging economy India is developing its own reusable launch vehicle that it hopes will make it a space power. The Avatar, a reusable launch vehicle (RLV), would be capable of delivering a 500 to 1000-kilogramme payload into orbit at a fairly low cost. The Aerobic Vehicle for Hypersonic Aerospace Transportation (Avatar) is just one example of how far India's space programme has travelled since it first launched a sounding rocket in 1963 from a fishing village Thumba in southern Kerala. India's space scientists have, over four decades, slowly but steadily developed a mature capability despite small budgets and an embargo on high technology transfers because of its nuclear tests.
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