ISRO, successfully completeS landing experiment of RLV-TD

ISRO joined by DRDO and Indian Air Force successfully conducted the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka in the early hours on April 2, 2023.

A Chinook helicopter of the Indian Air Force carried the RLV as an underslung load and flew it to an altitude of 4.5 km. Once the predetermined pillbox parameters were reached, the RLV was autonomously released mid-air, 4.6 km downrange. The RLV then successfully executed approach and landing maneuvers using the Integrated Navigation, Guidance & control system and autonomously landed on the ATR air strip. This achievement marks the successful autonomous landing of a space vehicle by ISRO.

The autonomous landing carried out by ISRO was done under conditions that simulate the landing of a space re-entry vehicle, with the vehicle performing a precise landing from the same return path as if it were arriving from space.

The landing achieved precise parameters such as ground relative velocity, the sink rate of landing gears, and precise body rates, all of which would be experienced by an orbital re-entry space vehicle in its return path. The success of the RLV LEX mission depended on various cutting-edge technologies, including accurate navigation hardware and software, a pseudolite system, a Ka-band radar altimeter, a NavIC receiver, an indigenous landing gear, aerofoil honeycomb fins, and a brake parachute system.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has expressed happiness as ISRO conducts Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission. In a reply to the tweet threads by ISRO, the Prime Minister tweeted; “A great team effort. This achievement takes us one step closer to realising an Indian Reusable Launch Vehicle.”