Bengaluru, May 23
India on Monday successfully launched the first technology demonstrator of indigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), capable of launching satellites into orbit around earth and then re-enter the atmosphere, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
"Mission accomplished successfully," an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spokesman said soon after RLV-TD HEX-01 was flight tested with the take off at 7 am.
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This is the first time ISRO has launched a winged flight vehicle, which glided back onto a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal, some 500 km from the coast.
Known as hypersonic flight experiment, it was about 10 minutes mission from liftoff to splashdown.
The RLV-TD is a scaled-down model of the reusable launch vehicle.
RLV, being dubbed as India's own space shuttle, is the unanimous solution to achieve low cost, reliable and on-demand space access, according to ISRO scientists.
RLV-TD is a series of technology demonstration missions that have been considered a first step towards realising a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) fully re-usable vehicle, ISRO said.
It has been configured to act as a flying testbed to evaluate various technologies, including hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air-breathing propulsion, it said.
The 6.5 metre-long 'aeroplane'-like structure weighing 1.75 tonnes was hoisted into the atmosphere on a special rocket booster.
The RLV-TD is described as "a very preliminary step" in the development of a reusable rocket, whose final version is expected to take in 10 to 15 years.
WATCH: India launches its first indigenous space shuttle, the RLV-TD from Sriharikota(Andhra Pradesh)https://t.co/G0SxiQbJgw
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 23, 2016
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated scientists on the successful launch of India's first indigenously made space shuttle- the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV).
"Launch of India's first indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD is the result of the industrious efforts of our scientists.
Congrats to them," he said in a tweet.
The dynamism & dedication with which our scientists & @isro have worked over the years is exceptional and very inspiring," the Prime Minister said. — PTI
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