The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on Monday, May 23. Reusable technology is expected to bring down costs of space missions significantly.
The cost of access to space is the major deterrent in space exploration and space utilisation. A reusable launch vehicle is the unanimous solution to achieve low cost, reliable and on-demand space access, ISRO said in a statement.
At 07:00 AM IST, the HS9 solid rocket booster carrying RLV-TD lifted off and, 91.1 seconds later, HS9 burned out as both systems reached a height of 56 km. Then, RLV-TD separated and ascended to a height of 65 km, after which, it began its descent into the Earth's atmosphere, finally landing in the Bay of Bengal, 450 km from Sriharikota. The total duration of the flight was 770 seconds.
Critical technologies in the flight included a Navigation, Guidance and Control system, which accurately steered the vehicle to ensure safe descent, a reusable thermal protection system (TPS), due to which the vehicle survived high temperatures upon its re-entry into the atmosphere, and a mission management system that successfully tracked the vehicle from a ship-borne terminal managed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology and ground stations in Sriharikota. Mid-sea wind measurements were provided by the Indian coast guards.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated ISRO scientists on twitter calling the launch an industrious effort of our scientists.
RLV-TD is the first in a series of demonstrations of reusable technology planned by ISRO. It was a Hypersonic Flight Experiment (HEX), which achieved speed greater than five times the speed of sound. It will be followed by a landing experiment (LEX), a return flight experiment (REX) and a scramjet propulsion experiment (SPEX).