BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) early Friday achieved a significant milestone in the development of reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology with the successful completion of the second landing experiment, the RLV-LEX-02.
TOI first reported that this test would happen in its Mar 16 edition.
Conducted at 7.10am at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga‘s Challakere, some 200km from Bengaluru, the second experiment in the series demonstrated the autonomous landing capability of the RLV from “off-nominal initial conditions”.
“Building upon the success of the RLV-LEX-01 mission last year, the RLV-LEX-02 experiment involved more challenging maneuvers and dispersions, requiring the vehicle to correct both cross-range and downrange deviations before landing autonomously on the runway,” Isro said.
The winged vehicle, now being called Pushpak, was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter and released from an altitude of 4.5 km, 4 km away from the runway.

After release, Pushpak autonomously approached the runway, making necessary cross-range corrections. It then landed precisely on the runway, coming to a halt with the aid of its brake parachute, landing gear brakes, and nose wheel steering system.
“This mission successfully simulated the approach and high-speed landing conditions of an RLV returning from space. With the RLV-LEX-02, Isro has re-validated its indigenously developed technologies in areas such as navigation, control systems, landing gear, and deceleration systems, which are essential for performing a high-speed autonomous landing of a space-returning vehicle,” Isro said.

Significantly, the winged body and all flight systems used in the RLV-LEX-01 mission were reused in the RLV-LEX-02 mission after necessary certifications and clearances, demonstrating the reuse capability of flight hardware and systems.
The mission was accomplished by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), the Liquid Propulsion System Centre (LPSC), and the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), with collaboration from various agencies, including the Indian Air Force, ADE, ADRDE, and CEMILAC.
Isro chairman S Somanath congratulated the team for the flawless execution while VSSC director S Unnikrishnan Nair, highlighted that through this repeated success, Isro could master the terminal phase maneuvering, landing, and energy management in a fully autonomous mode, which is a critical step towards the future development of an RLV.