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RLV-TD LEX mission
2nd April 2023 is especial day in the history of Indian Space program as the Indian Space Agency, ISRO has successfully conducted the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX mission).
I really wanted to make a detailed video about the test but unfortunately had my Mtech examination on the same day. However, after completing my exam, I could not stop myself from talking about the amazing feast achieved by ISRO. With this note lets’s start our today’s video and try to understand what was tested today and how it will shape up the future of Indian Space program.
On 2nd April 2023, around 7:10am in the early morning, the Air Force Chinook helicopter gets airborne from the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka. Under its slung the Chinook was carrying the ISRO’s RLV.
The exact mission profile and the motion trajectory of today’s test you can see in front of your screen. The RLV was supposed to be airlifted with the help of a helicopter, taken to a certain height, and released. Post the release the RLV is supposed to glide and navigate towards the runway carrying out the autonomous landing. This is exactly what has also happened in today’s test.
With the help of Chinook, the RLV was taken at an altitude of 4.5km 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. The RLV was released based on its release conditions which included 10 parameters covering position, velocity, altitude, and body rates, etc.
The release of RLV was autonomous. RLV then performed approach and landing maneuvers using the Integrated Navigation, Guidance & control system and completed an autonomous landing on the ATR air strip at 7:40 AM IST. With that, ISRO successfully completed the autonomous landing of a space vehicle.
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.
Landing parameters such as Ground relative velocity, the sink rate of Landing Gears, and precise body rates, as might be experienced by an orbital re-entry space vehicle in its return path, were achieved.
RLV-TD LEX mission Importance
The RLV LEX test is not only a significant achievement towards aerospace development but many other state-of-the-art technologies including accurate Navigation hardware and software, Pseudolite system, Ka-band Radar Altimeter, NavIC receiver, indigenous Landing Gear, Aerofoil honey-comb fins and brake parachute system were also tested. Extensive wind tunnel tests and CFD simulations enabled aerodynamic characterization of RLV were conducted prior to the flight.
This is also first test of its kind in the world where a winged body has been carried to an altitude of 4.5 km by a helicopter and released for carrying out an autonomous landing on a runway.
RLV is essentially a space plane with a low lift to drag ratio requiring an approach at high glide angles that necessitated a landing at high velocities of 350 kmph. LEX utilized several indigenous systems. Localized Navigation systems based on pseudolite systems, instrumentation, and sensor systems, etc. were developed by ISRO. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the landing site with a Ka-band Radar Altimeter provided accurate altitude information.
RLV-TD HEX mission
ISRO has earlier 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.
In HEX, the vehicle landed on a hypothetical runway over the Bay of Bengal. Precise landing on a runway was an aspect not included in the HEX mission.
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