Wishesh Magazine June 2016

On May 23, 2016 ISRO has successfully flight tested
India’s first winged body aerospace vehicle operating
in hypersonic flight regime. Reusable Launch Vehicle-
Technology Demonstration Program or RLV-TD is a series
of technology demonstration missions that have been
considered as a first step towards realizing a Two Stage To
Orbit (TSTO) fully re-usable vehicle.
A Winged Reusable
Launch Vehicle technology
Demonstrator (RLV-TD) has
been configured to act as a
flying test bed to evaluate
various technologies,
namely, hypersonic flight,
autonomous landing,
powered cruise flight and
hypersonic flight using airbreathing
propulsion.
The first in the series of
experimental flights is the
hypersonic flight experiment
(HEX) followed by the
landing experiment (LEX),
return flight experiment
(REX) and scramjet
propulsion experiment
(SPEX). Reusable Launch
Vehicle Technology
Demonstrator Hypersonic
Experiment (RLV-TD
HEX1) is wherein the
hypersonic aero-thermo
dynamic characterization
of winged re-entry body
along with autonomous
mission management, to
land at a specified location
and characterization of hot
structures are planned to be
demonstrated.
Reusable Launch Vehicle –
Technology Demonstrator
(RLV-TD) is one of the most
technologically challenging
endeavors of ISRO towards
developing essential
technologies for a fully
reusable launch vehicle to
enable low cost access to
space. The configuration of
RLV-TD is similar to that of
an aircraft and combines the
complexity of both launch
vehicles and aircraft.
RLV-TD consists of a
fuselage (body), a nose cap,
double delta wings and twin
vertical tails. It also features
symmetrically placed active
control surfaces called
Elevons and Rudder. This
technology demonstrator
was boosted to Mach no:
5 by a conventional solid
booster (HS9) designed for
low burn rate.
Objectives of
RLV-TD:
1. Hypersonic aero
thermodynamic
characterisation of wing body
2. Evaluation of autonomous
Navigation, Guidance and
Control (NGC) schemes
3. Integrated flight
management
4. Thermal Protection
System Evaluation
JUNE 2016 | WWW.WISHESH.COM