SRIHARIKOTA, India - On Sunday, India achieved a huge milestone in its future space transportation efforts after it successfully test launched a scramjet engine.

The launch on Sunday is said to have made the country the fourth ever country to successfully test scramjet engine.

ISRO noted that the countrys first experimental mission in the field took off from the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre launch pad (SDSC) in Sriharikota in the southern state ofAndhra Pradesh, with two scramjet engines.

According to reports, the scramjet engine has a air-breathing propulsion system and uses hydrogen as fuel and oxygen from the atmosphericair as the oxidiser. This is unlike regular engines that need to carry both fuel and oxidiser.

Local reports from the region reported that the Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV) carrying the engines touched down in the Bay of Bengal, which is 320 kilometers (199 miles)from Sriharikota. The flight is said to have lasted 300 seconds.

ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar said in a news statement, Todays experiment of doing a scramjet engine test is a very significant development. We are the fourth country to do such a thing, the test (scramjet engine) was very successful.

Officials from ISRO further added, Two scramjet engines were tested during the flight. The scramjet engines were ignited 55 seconds into the rocket's flight. The engines were tested for six seconds. With this flight, critical technologies such as ignition of air-breathing engines at supersonic speed, holding the flame at supersonic speed, air intake mechanism and fuel injection systems have been successfully demonstrated.

ISRO also added that the scramjet engines help reduce launch costs by cutting down on the amount of oxidiser which needs to be carried along with the fuel. Adding, the two air-breathing engines hugging an advanced technology vehicle rocket normally start breathing air when the rocket reaches a height of 11 kilometres.

The countrys President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Indias space agency on the achievement on Twitter.