ISRO Conducts Successful Test Launch of Reusable Launch Vehicle

ISRO Conducts Successful Test Launch of Reusable Launch Vehicle

ISRO accomplished the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Autonomous Landing Mission (LEX) with success at the Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga, Karnataka, which belongs to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The RLV, as per ISRO’s statement, transported a Chinook Helicopter of the Indian Air Force as an under-slung load and ascended to an altitude of 4.5 km.

• A pioneering technique was utilized for launching the vehicle, involving the use of a winged body lifted by a helicopter to an altitude of 4.5 km before being released to execute an autonomous landing on a runway. This was a first-of-its-kind approach in the world.

• The autonomous landing was executed under the same conditions that would be encountered during the re-entry of a Space vehicle, involving high speeds and unmanned, precise landing along the same return path as that from space.

• The RLV, which is essentially a space plane with a low lift-to-drag ratio, requires a landing at high velocities of 350 km due to the high glide angles involved.

• Several indigenous systems developed by ISRO, such as localized navigation systems based on pseudolite systems, instrumentation, and sensor systems, were utilized in the LEX mission, according to the space agency.

• ISRO believes that contemporary technologies developed for RLV LEX can be adapted to make other operational launch vehicles of ISRO more cost-effective.

• In May 2016, ISRO demonstrated the re-entry of its winged vehicle RLV-TD in the HEX Mission. However, precise landing on a runway was not included in this mission.

• During the LEX mission, the vehicle achieved the final approach phase, coinciding with the re-entry flight path and exhibiting an autonomous, high-speed (350 kmph) landing.

• ISRO plans to reduce the cost of payload delivery to low earth orbit by 80 percent through further experiments, including the Return Flight Experiment and other related tests of the RLV.

About Reusable Launch Vehicle:

• Developing essential technologies for a fully reusable launch vehicle that enables low-cost access to space is among the most challenging endeavors of ISRO in terms of technology.
•  The attainment of hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, and powered cruise flight is made possible through various technologies.
•  Special alloys, composites, and insulation materials are carefully selected to develop the RLV, and crafting its parts is an intricate process that requires highly skilled manpower.