ANOTHER SUCCESS WITH THE AUTONOMOUS LANDING EXPERIMENT

ISRO achieved a major milestone in the area of Reusable Launch Vehicle RLV) technology, through the RLV LEX-02 landing experiment, the second of the series

- AYUSHEE CHAUDHARY

PUSHPAK (RLV-TD), ISRO'S WINGED VEHICLE, LANDED autonomously with precision on the runway after being released from an off-nominal position, adding another feather to ISRO's hat of success. ISRO achieved a major milestone in the area of Reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology, through the RLV LEX-02 landing experiment, the second of the series, conducted at Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga in Karnataka on March 22. After the RLV-LEX-01 mission was accomplished last year, RLV-LEX-02 demonstrated the autonomous landing capability of RLV from off-nominal initial conditions at release from Helicopter. The RLV was made to undertake more difficult maneuvers with dispersions, correct both cross-range and down-range and land on the runway in a fully autonomous mode.

The winged vehicle, named Pushpak, was lifted by an Indian Air Force (IAF) Chinook helicopter and was released from 4.5 km altitude. After release at a distance of 4 km from the runway, Pushpak autonomously approached the runway along with cross-range corrections. It landed precisely on the runway and came to a halt using its brake parachute, landing gear brakes and nose wheel steering system.