In another significant
achievement in the world of space science, ISRO successfully flight tested
India’s first winged body aerospace vehicle operating in hypersonic flight
regime.
In this experimental
mission, the HS9 solid rocket booster carrying RLV-TD lifted off from the First
Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota at 07:00 hr IST.
Brief Facts: After a
successful flight of 91.1 second, HS9 burn out occurred, following which both
HS9 and RLV-TD mounted on its top coasted to a height of about 56 km. At that
height, RLV-TD separated from HS9 booster and further ascended to a height of
about 65 km.
From that peak altitude of
65 km, RLV-TD began its descent followed by atmospheric re-entry at around Mach
5 (five times the speed of sound). The vehicle’s Navigation, Guidance and
Control system accurately steered the vehicle during this phase for safe
descent.
After successfully
surviving a high temperatures of re-entry with the help of its Thermal
Protection System (TPS), RLV-TD successfully glided down to the defined landing
spot over Bay of Bengal, at a distance of about 450 km from Sriharikota,
thereby fulfilling its mission objectives.
The vehicle was
successfully tracked during its flight from ground stations at Sriharikota and
a shipborne terminal. Total flight duration from launch to landing of this
mission of the delta winged RLV-TD, lasted for about 770 seconds.
In this flight, critical
technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance & control, reusable
thermal protection system and re-entry mission management have been
successfully validated.
ISRO acknowledges the
support of Indian Coast Guard and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT)
for the mid-sea wind measurement and shipborne telemetry respectively in this
mission.
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