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April 2, 2023
ISRO RLV LEX landing
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) was successfully conducted on 2 April 2023.
ISRO RLV LEX - Reusable Launch Vehicle lands successfully
The Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) was released from an altitude of 4.5 km and successfully performed approach and completed an autonomous landing on the runway of the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka, at 07:40 local time.
The space agency also said that in a first in the world, a winged body has been carried to an altitude of 4.5 km by helicopter and released for carrying an autonomous landing on a runway.
According to ISRO the configuration of RLV-TD is similar to that of an aircraft and combines the complexity of both launch vehicles and aircraft.
The space agency also said that in a first in the world, a winged body has been carried to an altitude of 4.5 km by helicopter and released for carrying an autonomous landing on a runway.
According to ISRO the configuration of RLV-TD is similar to that of an aircraft and combines the complexity of both launch vehicles and aircraft.
“The winged RLV-TD has been configured to act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies, namely, hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, and powered cruise flight. In the future, this vehicle will be scaled up to become the first stage of India’s reusable two-stage orbital launch vehicle,” ISRO said.
RLV-TD consists of a fuselage (body), a nose cap, double delta wings, and twin vertical tails. It also features symmetrically placed active control surfaces called Elevons and Rudder.
RLV-TD description
RLV-TD was successfully flight tested on May 23, 2016, from Sriharikota validating the critical technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance and control, reusable thermal protection system, and re-entry mission management.
During this mission the vehicle landed on a hypothetical runway over the Bay of Bengal.
Sunday’s early morning landing experiment is the second in the series of experimental flights of the programme.
One of the key objectives of mastering the RLV technology is to achieve low cost access to space.
- ISRO) on Sunday successfully carried out the landing experiment of the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD) programme at the Aeronautical Test Range in Challakere, Chitradurga.
- The space agency also said that in a first in the world, a winged body has been carried to an altitude of 4.5 km by helicopter and released for carrying an autonomous landing on a runway.
- One of the key objectives of mastering the RLV technology is to achieve low cost access to space.
Related link:
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO): https://www.isro.gov.in/
Images, Video, Text, Credits: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)/The Hindu/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
During this mission the vehicle landed on a hypothetical runway over the Bay of Bengal.
Sunday’s early morning landing experiment is the second in the series of experimental flights of the programme.
One of the key objectives of mastering the RLV technology is to achieve low cost access to space.
- ISRO) on Sunday successfully carried out the landing experiment of the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD) programme at the Aeronautical Test Range in Challakere, Chitradurga.
- The space agency also said that in a first in the world, a winged body has been carried to an altitude of 4.5 km by helicopter and released for carrying an autonomous landing on a runway.
- One of the key objectives of mastering the RLV technology is to achieve low cost access to space.
Related link:
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO): https://www.isro.gov.in/
Images, Video, Text, Credits: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)/The Hindu/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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