Why in News?

• The DRDO has conducted the maiden test of an indigenously developed Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) along with several technologies.

HSDTV:

• The HSTDV is an unmanned scramjet demonstration aircraft for hypersonic speed flight.
• India is pushing ahead with the development of ground and flight test hardware as part of an ambitious plan for a hypersonic cruise missile.
• The HSTDV is intended to attain autonomous scramjet flight for 20 seconds, using a solid rocket launch booster.
• The research will also inform India’s interest in reusable launch vehicles. The eventual target is to reach Mach 6.5 at an altitude of 32.5 km.
• Under this project, DRDO is developing a hypersonic vehicle that will be powered by a scram-jet engine.

Uses:

• This is dual-use technology, which when developed, will have multiple civilian applications.
• It can be used for launching satellites at low cost.
• It will also be available for long-range cruise missiles of the future.

Scram-jet technology:

• In scram-jet technology, combustion of fuel takes place in a chamber in the missile at supersonic speeds.
• This is different from a ram jet system where the system collects the air it needs from the atmosphere during the flight at subsonic speeds and the propellants burn in the combustion chamber.