ISRO's Reuseable Launch Vehicle Will Have The First Landing In Karnataka

Aadhya Khatri - Oct 17, 2019

ISRO has finally done exactly what SpaceX and NASA have done, which is to develop RLV (Reusable Launch Vehicle) to cut launch costs

ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) has finally chosen to do exactly what SpaceX and NASA have done to develop RLV (Reusable Launch Vehicle), which was first tested back in 2016.

The aim of the program is to reduce the cost of launch by reuse spacecraft. What ISRO made is a design with features of the reusable rockets of SpaceX and the Space Shuttle program of NASA.

The RLV of India has a craft that resembles Space Shuttle with an air-breathing ramjet engine. Much like what the Space Shuttle does, the craft will carry a payload to space and then go back to Earth and touch down like any other aircraft. The returning trip will use its own power, and the craft will land on a platform floating at sea.

The RLV has passed the water test, and it will be tested on land shortly before attempting an actual land. The flight will be tracked by ISRO’s experts, and the RLV will land at Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga district, Karnataka.

A helicopter will drop the RLV from a height of three kilometers, and it will glide for some time with the help of the onboard computer, before landing on the 2.2 km runway, much like what an aircraft does.

An Illustration of different stages of the RLV, from launching to landing

This RLV plays an important part in realizing ISRO’s ambition of Gaganyaan, a human space flight, as well as cutting the launch costs.

There will be four aspects of the vehicle to be tested, including:

ISRO intends to reuse two of the rocket’s stages. For the first one, the agency plans to program the rocket to land on the platform at sea, much like what SpaceX did with the Falcon 9 boosters. On the other stage, the rocket will be under the control of ISRO’s engineers so that it will touch down on an airstrip.