SRE 1, 2

SRE 1 [ISRO]

SRE (Space Capsule Recovery Experiment) is intended for demonstrating the capability to recover an orbiting space capsule. The experiment envisages the development of a 500 kg recoverable capsule and the associated technologies. SRE will be launched on board ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) during the second half of 2005.

After its launch by a PSLV, SRE will remain in orbit for a few days during which it will be used to perform experiments in micro-gravity environment. The capsule will then be de-orbited and it re-enters the earth's atmosphere. On re-entry, after initial aerodynamic braking, a parachute system will reduce the touch down velocity. The SRE will splashdown in the Bay of Bengal, about 140 km east of Sriharikota coast. A floatation system will keep the SRE afloat and enables its recovery.

The SRE capsule has four major hardware, namely Aero Thermostructure (ATS), Spacecraft platform, deceleration and floatation system and payloads.

The SRE is intended to test reusable thermal protection system, navigation, guidance and control, hypersonic aerothermodynamics, management of communication blackout, deceleration and floatation system, recovery operations, etc.

Additionally to the technological experiments, the capsules carry micro gravity experiments: SRE–1 carried two experiments, an Isothermal Heating Furnace (IHF) and a Bio-mimeic experiment. SRE-2 carries a larger number of experiments:

• Advanced Iso-thermal heating furnace (IHF-MK2): Gravitational Effects during Liquid Phase Sintering of Powder metallurgy Products and Study on the potential of carbon nano tubes for Composites
• CCMB Bioreactor: Biological Effects of Micro-g on E-coli bacteria
• JAXA Bioreactor: Growth of Plant Kingdom based Microbials (Cyanobacteria)
• BIOPAN: Microgravity and radiation exposure studies on Seeds
• Dosimeter: Orbital radiation measurement (cumulative and instantaneous)
• Langmuir Probe: Electron flux density measurement during re-entry

The SRE 1 capsule was launched on 10. January 2007 and was recovered successfuly on 22. January 2007.