ISRO's Scramjet Engine

India rocketed into an elite group of space-faring nations on Sunday by successfully experimenting with a new and revolutionary rocket technology , which, once operational, will change space travel.
The other three nations working on this technology are the US, Russia and the European Space Agency (17 countries).
Sunday's much-awaited mission is related to the maiden trial of Isro's indigenously-designed scramjet engine, which aims towards the realisation of an air-breathing propulsion system.The advantage of this system is that it will make the rocket lighter, more efficient and cost-effective. In turn, it will allow the vehicle to carry payloads with greater mass.
India has now become the fourth country to demonstrate flight testing of the scramjet engine. “The successful technology demonstration of the air-breathing scramjet engines in flight by Isro is a modest, yet important milestone in its endeavour to design and develop advanced air-breathing engines for Isro's future space transportation system,“ the space agency declared . It is related to Isro's reusable launch vehicle programme.
The solid rocket booster carrying the scramjet engines lifted off at 6 a.m. (IST) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
Critical flight events--the burnout of the booster rocket stage, ignition of the second stage solid rocket, the functioning of the scramjet engines for five seconds, followed by the burnout of the second stage--were flawlessly executed.
The historic mission lasted for about 300 seconds.The rocket then touched down into the Bay of Bengal, approximately 320 km from Sriharikota. The flight was tracked by ground stations at Sriharikota. This mission endorsed critical technologies such as the ignition of air-breathing engines, holding the flame both at supersonic speed of mach VI--six times the speed of sound--the air intake mechanism and the fuel injection systems.
The scramjet engine uses hydrogen as fuel and oxygen from the atmosphere as oxidiser. Isro's Advanced Technology Vehicle was the solid rocket booster used for testing scramjet engines in supersonic condition.The rocket with the scramjet engines weighed 3,277 kg.