View source for Avatar spacecraft

{{short description|Concept for a crewed single-stage reusable spaceplane}}
{{Infobox rocket
|name           = AVATAR
|image          =
|imsize         = 
|caption        = 
|function       = Robotic reusable [[spaceplane]]
|manufacturer   = 
|country-origin = India
|height         = 
|alt-height     = 
|diameter       = 
|mass           = {{cvt|25|t|lb}} <ref name="Delhi 2001"/>
|alt-mass       = 
|stages         = 1
|capacities =  <!--insert one of the following templates for each payload:-->
  {{Infobox rocket/payload
  |location =  [[low Earth orbit]]
  |kilos    =  {{convert|1000|kg|abbr=on}}
  }}
|status         = Concept study
|first          =  
|sites          = 
|launches       = 
|stagedata      =
{{Infobox rocket/stage
|type           = stage
|stageno        = First
|engines         = [[Ramjet|turbo-ramjet]], [[scramjet]] and [[Cryogenic rocket engine|cryogenic]]
|fuel           = [[Liquid oxygen|LOX]]/[[Liquid hydrogen|LH2]]
}}}}
'''Avatar''' ({{lang-sa|अवतार|{{IAST|avatāra}}}}; from "'''A'''erobic '''V'''ehicle for Transatmospheric Hypersonic '''A'''erospace '''T'''r'''A'''nspo'''R'''tation") is a concept study for a robotic [[Single-stage-to-orbit|single-stage]] [[Reusable launch system|reusable]] [[spaceplane]] capable of [[CTOL|horizontal takeoff and landing]], by India's [[Defence Research and Development Organisation]]. The mission concept is for low cost military and commercial [[satellite]] [[outer space|space]] launches.<ref name="Gujarat 2014">{{cite news |url=http://www.scity.gujarat.gov.in/plane-avatar.htm |title=Indian Scientists unveils space plane Avatar in US |work=Gujarat Science City |date=10 July 2001 |access-date=2014-10-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222125628/http://www.scity.gujarat.gov.in/plane-avatar.htm |archive-date=22 December 2015 }}</ref><ref name="Delhi 2001">{{cite news |url=http://www.spacedaily.com/news/india-01i.html |title=India Eyes New Spaceplane Concept |work=Space Daily |location=New Delhi |date=August 8, 2001 |access-date=2014-10-22 }}</ref><ref name="Defence India">{{cite news |title=AVATAR- Hyper Plane to be built by INDIA |work=India's Military and Civilian Technological Advancements |date=December 19, 2011 }}</ref>

This spaceplane concept is unrelated to India's [[RLV Technology Demonstration Programme]] ([[RLV-TD]]).<ref name="Avatar is DRDO">{{cite web |url=http://dos.gov.in/sites/default/files/USQ251.pdf |title=Government of India Department of Space |date=March 14, 2012 |access-date=2016-04-27 |quote=Feasibility study of project "AVATAR)" has been done by a group of scientists in DRDO. ISRO has no connection with the project. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805065726/http://dos.gov.in/sites/default/files/USQ251.pdf |archive-date=August 5, 2016 }}</ref>

==Concept==
The idea is to develop a [[spaceplane]] vehicle that can [[takeoff|take off]] from conventional airfields. Its [[liquid air cycle engine]] would collect air in the [[atmosphere]] on the way up, [[Liquefaction|liquefy]] it, separate [[oxygen]] and store it on board for subsequent flight beyond the atmosphere. The Avatar, a [[reusable launch system|reusable launch vehicle]], was first announced in May 1998 at the [[Aero India]] 98 exhibition held at Bangalore.

Avatar is projected to weigh 25 tons, of which 60% of that mass would be [[liquid hydrogen]] fuel.<ref name="Delhi 2001"/> The oxygen required by the vehicle for combustion in outer space would be collected from the atmosphere during takeoff, thus reducing the need to carry oxygen during launch.<ref name="Delhi 2001"/> The notional specification is for a [[Maximum takeoff weight|payload]] weighing up to {{convert|1000|kg|abbr=on}} to [[low Earth orbit]] and to withstand up to 100 launches and reentries.<ref name="Gujarat 2014"/><ref name="Delhi 2001"/>

If built, Avatar would take off [[HTHL|horizontally]] like a conventional airplane from a conventional airstrip using [[Ramjet|turbo-ramjet]] engines that burn hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen.<ref name="Delhi 2001"/> During this cruising phase, an on-board system would collect air from the atmosphere, from which liquid oxygen would be separated and stored and used to burn the stored hydrogen in the final flight phase to attain orbit. The vehicle would be designed to permit at least one hundred launches and [[Atmospheric entry|atmospheric reentries]].<ref name="Delhi 2001"/>

==Feasibility study==
The Avatar concept study was commissioned by India's [[Defence Research and Development Organisation]] in 2001.<ref name="Gujarat 2014"/> India's Space Agency [[ISRO]] has no connection with the project.<ref name="Avatar is DRDO"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/files/usq251.pdf |title=AVATAR Project |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408110239/http://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/files/usq251.pdf |archive-date=8 April 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://164.100.47.194/Loksabha/Questions/QResult15.aspx?qref=116544&lsno=15|title=AVATAR Project}}</ref>  Air Commodore Raghavan Gopalaswami, who headed the study, made a presentation on the [[spaceplane]] at the global conference on propulsion at [[Salt Lake City]], United States on July 10, 2001.<ref name="Gujarat 2014"/><ref name="Delhi 2001"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110015353.pdf|title=Report of the Horizontal Launch Study|date=June 2011|publisher=[[NASA]]|quote=Last year of effort: 2001|work=DARPA|access-date=2016-04-27}}</ref>

==See also==
Spaceplanes of comparable role, configuration and era
*[[Boeing X-37]]
*[[Buran (spacecraft)|Buran]]
*[[Dream Chaser]]
*[[Skylon (spacecraft)|Skylon]]
*[[Space Rider]]
*[[Space Shuttle]]
*[[SpaceShipTwo]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/spacetransport/spacecraft-avatar.html&date=2009-10-25+22:15:24 Concept of AVATAR]

{{Indian space programme}}
{{Reusable launch systems}}
{{Spaceplanes}}

{{Use Indian English|date=January 2014}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avatar (Spacecraft)}}
[[Category:Hydrogen-powered aircraft]]
[[Category:Hypersonic aircraft]]
[[Category:Space launch vehicles of India]]
[[Category:Space programme of India]]
[[Category:Ramjet-powered aircraft]]
[[Category:Former proposed space launch system concepts]]
[[Category:Spacecraft propulsion]]
[[Category:Spaceplanes]]
[[Category:Proposed aircraft of India]]
[[Category:V-tail aircraft]]
[[Category:Satish Dhawan Space Centre]]