ISRO has achieved a major milestone in the area of Reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology, through the RV LEX-02 landing experiment.
This was the second of the series, conducted at Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga in Karnataka at 7:10 hrs IST on March 22.
The RLV-LEX-02 demonstrated the autonomous landing capability of RV from off-nominal initial conditions at release from Helicopter.
The winged vehicle, called Pushpak, was lifted by an Indian Airforce 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.
The mission was accomplished by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) along with the Liquid Propulsion System Centre (LPSO) and the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU).
Collaboration from various agencies including AF, ADE, ADRDE and CEMILAC contributed to the success of this mission.