India just took a big step towards developing its own reusable launch vehicle. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully conducted the 'Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission' (RLV LEX) on Sunday morning. A winged body, essentially a space plane, was carried to an altitude of 4.5 km by a helicopter, then released to carry out an autonomous landing on a runway. This is the first time a winged body has been carried to such an altitude by a helicopter and then released for a landing.
The RLV LEX took off at 7:10 am IST and flew to a height of 4.5 km. The release of the winged body was completely autonomous, and it performed approach and landing maneuvers using an Integrated Navigation, Guidance & control system. It successfully completed an autonomous landing on the AlK at the strip at 7:40 AM IST.
The landing conditions included ground relative velocity, the sink rate of landing gears, and precise body rates, all of which mimic those experienced by an orbital re-entry space vehicle in its return path. The RLV LEX demanded several state-of-the-art technologies, including accurate navigation hardware and software, Pseudolite system, Ka-band Radar Altimeter, NavIC receiver, indigenous landing gear, Aerofoil honey-comb fins, and brake parachute system.
The LEX mission began with an Integrated Navigation test in 2019 and followed multiple Engineering Model Trials and Captive Phase tests in subsequent years. Along with ISRO, the Indian Air Force, CEMILAC, ADE, and ADRDE all contributed to this test. Dr. S Unnikrishnan Nair, Director, VSSC, and Shri Shyam Mohan N, Programme Director, A TSP guided the teams, and Chairman, ISRO/Secretary, DOS Shri S Somanath witnessed the test and congratulated the team. With LEX, the dream of an Indian Reusable Launch Vehicle comes one step closer
