Reusable Landing Vehicle (RLV) LEX 02

About Reusable Landing Vehicle (RLV) LEX 02

• This landing experiment is the second of the series conducted at Aeronautical Test Range.
• After the RLV-LEX-01 mission was accomplished last year, RLV-LEX-02 demonstrated the autonomous landing capability of reusable launch vehicle (RLV) from off-nominal initial conditions at release from helicopter.

How was the experiment conducted?

• The RLV LEX-02 mission demonstrated the autonomous landing capability of the reusable launch vehicle from challenging initial conditions after release from a helicopter.
• It is named Pushpak, the winged vehicle was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter and released from an altitude of 4.5 km.
• It autonomously approached the runway with cross-range corrections and landed precisely, coming to a halt using its brake parachute, landing gear brakes, and nose wheel steering system
• The winged body and all flight systems used in RLV-LEX-01 were reused in the RLV-LEX-02 mission after due certification/ clearances. 
• The mission was accomplished by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) along with the Liquid Propulsion System Centre (LPSC) and the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU).

Reusable Launch Vehicle

• It is essentially a space plane with a low lift to drag ratio requiring an approach at high glide angles that necessitates a landing at high velocities of 350 kmph. 
• It utilises several indigenous systems. Localised navigation systems based on pseudolite systems, instrumentation, and sensor systems, etc were developed by ISRO. 

Q1) What is a Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD)?

RLV-TD Programme is envisioned as a series of technology demonstration missions that serve towards realising a fully reusable Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) vehicle.

Source: ISRO successfully conducts ‘Pushpak’ Reusable Landing Vehicle landing experiment