Chennai, Apr 2 (FN Agency) India’s dream of having it’s own Resuable Launch Vehicle has become one step closer to reality, with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday successfully conducting the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX). The test was conducted at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga in Karnataka in the early hours of today. The RLV took off at 7:10 A.M by a Chinook Helicopter of the Indian Air Force as an underslung load and flew to a height of 4.5 km (above MSL).
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, ISRO said in a series of tweets. Release conditions included 10 parameters covering position, velocity, altitude and body rates, etc. The release of RLV was autonomous. RLV then performed approach and landing manoeuvers using the Integrated Navigation, Guidance and control system and completed an autonomous landing on the ATR air strip at 7:40 A.M. With this, ISRO successfully achieved the autonomous landing of a space vehicle.