Pushpak, ISRO’s reusable launch vehicle, clears test

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: Space sector

Context:

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) completed the third Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Landing Experiment (LEX) on June 23 at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga, Karnataka.

More about the launch:

This is the third and final test in the series of LEX (03).
Following the success of the RLV LEX-01 and LEX-02 missions, RLV LEX-03 re-demonstrated the autonomous landing capability of the RLV under more challenging release conditions (cross range of 500 m against 150 m for LEX-02) and more severe wind conditions.
The winged vehicle, Pushpak, was released from an Indian Air Force Chinook Helicopter at an altitude of 4.5 km.
ISRO said that from a release point 4.5 km away from the runway, Pushpak autonomously executed cross-range correction maneuvers, approached the runway and performed a precise horizontal landing at the runway centreline.
This mission simulated the approach and landing interface and high-speed landing conditions for a vehicle returning from space, reaffirming ISRO’s expertise in acquiring the most critical technologies required for the development of a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV).
The advanced guidance algorithm catering to longitudinal and lateral plane error corrections, which is essential for the future Orbital Reentry Mission, has been validated.
The RLV-LEX uses multisensor fusion including sensors like the Inertial sensor, Radar altimeter, Flush air data system, Pseudolite system and NavIC.
The RLV-LEX-03 mission reused the winged body and flight systems as such without any modification, from the LEX-02 mission, demonstrating the robustness of ISRO’s capability of design to reuse flight systems for multiple missions.