Vikas (rocket engine)

 ( Rocket Engines Of India ) 

The Vikas (a Blend word from initials of Vikram Sarabhai

) is a family of hypergolic conceptualized and designed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) in the 1970s. The design was based on the licensed version of the Viking engine with the chemical pressurisation system.

(2025). 9781563476495, AIAA. . ISBN 9781563476495

The early production Vikas engines used some imported French components which were later replaced by domestically produced equivalents.

(2025). 9781563476495, AIAA. . ISBN 9781563476495

It is used in the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and LVM3 for space launch use.

Vikas engine is used to power the second stage of PSLV, boosters and second stage of GSLV Mark I and II and also the core stage of LVM3. The propellant loading for Vikas engine in PSLV, GSLV Mark I and II is 40 tons, while in LVM3 is 55 tons.

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History In 1974, Societe Europeenne de Propulsion agreed to transfer Viking engine technology in return for 100 man-years of engineering work from ISRO. The first engine built from the acquired technology was tested successfully in 1985 by Nambi Narayanan and his team at ISRO and named it Vikas.

A.E Muthunayagam (2015). 9789351776901, Harper Collins. . ISBN 9789351776901

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Technical details The engine uses up about 40 metric tons of UDMH as fuel and Nitrogen tetroxide (N₂O₄) as oxidizer with a maximum thrust of 725 kN. An upgraded version of the engine has a chamber pressure of 58.5 bar as compared to 52.5 bar in the older version and produces a thrust of 800 kN. The engine is capable of .

For launches from 2018 a 6% increased thrust version of the Vikas engine was developed. It was demonstrated on 29 March 2018 in the GSAT 6A launch second stage. It will be used for the four Vikas engines first stage boosters on future missions.

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Variants

Booster/first stage
Vikas-2	~1.00	~2.75	13.9	5.30	UDMH /	1.86	0.2469	600.5	680.5	2432	2756	GSLV
Vikas-2B	~1.00	~2.75	13.9	5.30	UH 25 /	1.87	0.2710	677.7	765.5	2501	2824	GSLV
Vikas-X	~1.80	~3.75			UH 25 /		0.2805	756.5	839.0	2697	2991	LVM3 L110 stage
Second stage
Vikas-4	~1.50	~3.50		5.35	UDMH /	1.86	0.2498	-	725.0		2903	GSLV, PSLV
Vikas-4B	~1.80	~3.70		5.85	UH 25 /	1.71	0.2716	-	804.5		2962	GSLV, PSLV
References:

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External links

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