The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully completed the autonomous landing test or air-drop landing experiment of the space agency's reusable launch vehicle prototype on Sunday, April 2.
The mission, known as RLV LEX, was carried out in the early hours of Sunday at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga, Karnataka, in collaboration with the Defence Space Research Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF).
A statement issued by ISRO said, "India achieved it. ISRO joined by DRDO successfully conducted the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka in the early hours on April 2, 2023."
According to the statement, the RLV took off at 7:10 am by a Chinook Helicopter of the Indian Air Force. The release of RLV was autonomous. Then using the Integrated Navigation, Guidance & control system, the RLV completed an autonomous landing on the ATR at 7:40 AM. With that, ISRO successfully achieved the autonomous landing of a space vehicle.
The RLV was launched at 7:10 a.m. by an Indian Air Force Chinook Helicopter, according to the statement.
RLV was released on its own. At 7:40 a.m., the RLV completed an autonomous landing on the ATR using the Integrated Navigation, Guidance, and Control system. ISRO has thus achieved autonomous space vehicle landing.
The statement said, "The autonomous landing was carried out under the exact conditions of a Space Re-entry vehicle's landing high speed, unmanned, precise landing from the same return path as if the vehicle arrives from space. LEX utilized several indigenous systems. Localized Navigation systems, instrumentation, and sensor systems, etc. were developed by ISRO." "ISRO had demonstrated the re-entry of its winged vehicle RLV-TD in the HEX mission in May 2016. The re-entry of a hypersonic sub-orbital vehicle marked a major accomplishment in developing Reusable Launch Vehicles. The LEX began with an Integrated Navigation test in 2019 and followed multiple Engineering Model Trials and Captive Phase tests in subsequent years", reads the statement.
(With ANI inputs)