Why in News:

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully tested a technology that could aid cost-effective recovery of spent rocket stages and safely land payloads on other planets.
• The Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD) was designed, developed and successfully test-flown by ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) on a Rohini-300 (RH300 Mk II)

How does it work?

• The IAD serves to decelerate an object plunging down through the atmosphere.
  • IAD, made of Kevlar fabric coated with Polychloroprene, was packed into the payload bay of the rocket.
• After the nose-cone of the rocket separated, the IAD inflated, balloon-like, at a height of 84 km using compressed nitrogen stored in a gas bottle. The IAD systematically reduced the velocity of the payload through aerodynamic drag.
• Once the IAD fell into the sea, it deflated by firing a deflation pyro valve. 
• This demonstration opens a gateway for cost-effective spent stage recovery and this technology can also be used in ISRO’s future missions to Venus and Mars

 Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/isro-successfully-tests-iad-technology/article65848877.ece