Chitradurga (Karnataka): The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in collaboration with DRDO and Indian Air Force successfully conducted the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) in the early hours of Sunday at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Karnataka's Chitradurga.
In a statement, ISRO said that the RLV took off at 7:10 am IST by a Chinook Helicopter of the Indian Air Force as an underslung load and flew to a height of 4.5 km. Once the predetermined pillbox parameters were attained, based on the RLV's Mission Management Computer command, the RLV was released in mid-air, at a down range of 4.6 km. The RLV then performed approach and landing manoeuvres using the Integrated Navigation, Guidance and control system and completed an autonomous landing on the ATR airstrip at 7:40 AM IST.
Also read: ISRO's LVM3 successfully injects 36 satellites into intended orbits
The space research organisation further stated that this is the first time in the world that a 'winged body' has been carried to an altitude of 4.5 km by helicopter and released for carrying out an autonomous landing on a runway. RLV is a space plane with a low lift-to-drag ratio requiring an approach at high glide angles that necessitated a landing at high velocities of 350 kmph, it stated.
Earlier in May 2016, as part of the HEX mission, ISRO had demonstrated the re-entry of its winged vehicle RLV-TD which marked a major accomplishment in developing Reusable Launch Vehicles. In that mission, the RLV landed on a hypothetical runway over the Bay of Bengal. The LEX mission achieved the final approach phase that coincided with the re-entry return flight path exhibiting an autonomous, high-speed (350 kmph) landing.
