Reusable Launch Vehicle–Technology Demonstration Programme is a series of

technology demonstration A technology demonstration (or tech demo), also known as demonstrator model, is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a conceivable product or future system, put together as proof of concept with the primary purpose of ...

missions that has been conceived by the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman o ...

(ISRO) as a first step towards realising a

Two Stage To Orbit A two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) or two-stage rocket launch vehicle is a spacecraft in which two distinct stages provide propulsion consecutively in order to achieve orbital velocity. It is intermediate between a three-stage-to-orbit launcher and a hyp ...

(TSTO) re-usable launch vehicle. For this purpose, a winged

reusable launch vehicle A reusable launch vehicle have parts that can be recovered and reflown, while carrying payloads from the surface to outer space. Rocket stages are the most common launch vehicle parts aimed for reuse. Smaller parts such as rocket engines and boos ...

technology demonstrator (

RLV-TD RLV-TD is India's first uncrewed flying testbed developed for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstration Programme. It is a scaled down prototype of an eventual two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) reus ...

) has been configured. The RLV-TD acted as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies like powered cruise flight,

hypersonic flight Hypersonic flight is flight through the atmosphere below altitudes of about 90 km at speeds greater than Mach 5, a speed where dissociation of air begins to become significant and high heat loads exist. Speeds of Mach 25+ have been achiev ...

, and autonomous landing using air-breathing propulsion. Application of these technologies would bring down the launch cost by a factor of 10. This project has no connection with the

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appear ...

spaceplane concept by India's

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

Development

In 2006 the

performed a series of ground tests to demonstrate stable supersonic combustion for nearly 7 seconds with an inlet Mach number of 6. In March 2010, ISRO conducted the flight testing of its new sounding rocket: Advanced Technology Vehicle ( ATV-D01), weighing 3 tonnes at lift-off, a diameter of , and a length of ~. It carried a passive scramjet engine combustor module as a test-bed for demonstration of air-breathing propulsion technology. In January 2012, ISRO announced that a scaled prototype, called Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (

), was approved to be built and tested. The aerodynamics characterization on the RLV-TD prototype was done by

National Aerospace Laboratories The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is India's first and largest aerospace research firm established by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Delhi in 1959. The firm closely operates with HAL, DRDO, and ISRO and ha ...

in India. The RLV-TD is in the last stages of construction by a Hyderabad-based private company called CIM Technologies. By May 2015, engineers at the

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is a major space research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satellite programme. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, in the India ...

(VSSC) in Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station were installing thermal tiles on the outer surface of the RLV-TD to protect it against the intense heat during

atmospheric reentry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the ...

. This prototype weighs around 1.5 tonnes and flew to an altitude of 65 km mounted on top of an expendable solid booster HS9. On August 28, 2016, ISRO successfully tested its scramjet engine on second developmental flight of its Advanced Technology Vehicle ATV-D02 from the

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Satish Dhawan Space Centre - SDSC (formerly Sriharikota Range - SHAR) is a rocket launch centre ( spaceport) operated by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is located in Sriharikota, Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. Sriharikota ...

for 28 August 2016. The scramjet engine will be integrated to the RLV at a later stage of development.

Test flights

A total of four

flights are planned by ISRO. * HEX (

Hypersonic Flight Experiment Hypersonic Flight Experiment or HEX was the first test flight in the RLV Technology Demonstration Programme of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The demonstration trials will pave the way for a two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) fully re-usa ...

): completed on 23 May 2016.India’s Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), Successfully Flight Tested
23 May 2016. ISRO. * LEX (Landing Experiment):

TBA To be announced (TBA), to be confirmed (TBC), to be determined or decided or declared (TBD), and other variations, are placeholder terms used very broadly in event planning to indicate that although something is scheduled or expected to happen, a ...

* REX (Return Flight Experiment): TBA * SPEX (Scramjet Propulsion Experiment): TBA

Hypersonic Flight Experiment

The Hypersonic Flight Experiment, or HEX, was the first test flight in the

development program. It was launched from the first launchpad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 23 May 2016 at 7:00 AM local time on board a HS9 solid rocket booster. After a successful launch, booster burn-out occurred 91.1 seconds into flight at a height of about 56 km, the RLV-TD separated from the HS9 booster and further ascended to a height of about 65 km. The RLV-TD then began its descent at about Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound). The vehicle's navigation, guidance and control systems accurately steered the vehicle during this phase for a controlled descent down to the defined landing spot over the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line bet ...

, at a distance of about from Sriharikota, thereby fulfilling its mission objectives. The vehicle was tracked during its flight from ground stations at Sriharikota and a shipborne terminal. The total flight duration from launch to splashdown lasted about 770 seconds. The unit was not planned to be recovered. ISRO plans to construct an airstrip greater than long in

Sriharikota Sriharikota is a Barrier island off the Bay of Bengal coast located in the Shar Project settlement of Tirupati district in Andhra Pradesh, India. It houses the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, one of the two satellite launch centres in India (the ...

island in the "near future". In this flight, critical technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance and control, and reusable thermal protection system, have been validated

Development

Test flights

Hypersonic Flight Experiment

See also