Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD)

In News

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully demonstrated a new technology with Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD). 

About Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD)

• Development : It was designed, developed and successfully test-flown by ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) on a Rohini-300 (RH300 Mk II) sounding rocket from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS).
  •  Rohini sounding rockets are routinely used for flight demonstration of new technologies being developed by ISRO as well as by scientists from India and abroad. 
• As its name suggests, the IAD serves to decelerate an object plunging down through the atmosphere.
•  It is a game-changer with multiple applications for future missions including to Mars and Venus. 

• Significance : The news technology  could aid cost-effective recovery of spent rocket stages and safely land payloads on other planets.
  • It can also be used in ISRO’s future missions to Venus and Mars.

Source:TH