New Technology by ISRO
An IAD, designed and developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, has been successfully test flown in a Rohini sounding rocket from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station ( TERLS), Kerela.
This demonstration opens a gateway for cost effective spent stage recovery using the Inflatable Aerodynamics Decelerator technology
The IAD has huge potential in variety of space applications like recovery of spent stages of rocket, for landing payloads on to Mars or Venus and in making space habitat for human space flight missions.
The IAD has systematically reduced the velocity of the payload through aerodynamic drag and followed the predicted trajectory.
This is first time that an IAD is designed specifically for spent stage recovery.
IAD is being developed for aerodynamically decelerating an object descending through the atmosphere.
What is a sounding rocket:-
ISRO used Rohini sounding rocket to experiment this technology, so we have to know what is sounding rocket.
A sounding rocket is a type of testing rocket which is used in experiments any new technology in the upper atmosphere.
So Rohini sounding rocket are used by the ISRO to test new technology for future space missions.
Source: ISRO