On June 23, 2024, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully completed a series of Landing Experiments of the Pushpak Reproducible Launch Vehicle (RLV). In the third and final test, Pushpak demonstrated its autonomous capabilities in harsh conditions by performing a precise horizontal landing. After achieving the objectives of the experiment, ISRO started the development of Orbital Reusable Vehicle (RLV-ORV).

The third and final landing experiment (LEX-03) was conducted at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga, Karnataka. During the experiment, the Pushpak winged vehicle was dropped from a height of 4.5 km by the Chinook helicopter of the Indian Air Force. After the reset, the vehicle maneuvered itself to correct its course and landed exactly on the center line of the runway.

During the experiment, the device deviated from its intended orbit by 500 meters, more than in the previous test, and encountered stronger winds. However, thanks to the ship’s aerodynamic design and low landing resistance, the landing speed exceeded 320 km/h.

The third test saw the airframe and flight systems from the second experiment successfully reused without any modifications. The reusable launch vehicle design was designed to launch satellites into space and return them safely; this will reduce launch costs and increase India’s competitiveness in the global space services market. Unlike SpaceX’s vertical lander, Pushpak has wings that allow you to plan and make a horizontal landing.

For comparison, the landing speed of commercial aircraft is 260 km/h, and the landing speed of fighter jets is 280 km/h. After landing, the ship’s speed was reduced to almost 100 km/h with the help of a braking parachute. The landing gear brakes were then deployed for further braking and stopping on the runway.

“This mission simulated the approach and high-speed landing conditions of a returning spacecraft from space, validating ISRO’s expertise in acquiring critical technologies required for the development of a reusable launch vehicle,” the space agency said.

This demonstration confirmed the effectiveness of an advanced error correction algorithm in the longitudinal and transverse planes, one of the most important technologies required for a reusable launch vehicle. The vehicle uses various sensors such as inertial sensor, radar altimeter, pseudosystem (ground-based positioning system), as well as its own NaVIC satellite positioning system.