RLV Pushpak’s hat-trick landing even in stormy winds, after all the features of an aircraft

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) ISRO Reusable launch vehicle LEX-03 ( ) ‘Pushpak’ has successfully landed for the third time. Pushpak aircraft has successfully landed even in stormy winds. ISRO RLV-ORV has joined the Orbital Reusable Vehicle. With this mission, India will soon be able to achieve its goal of sending humans into space.

The Pushpak aircraft was tested at 7.10 am at the Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga, Karnataka. Earlier, Pushpak ALV LEX-01 and LEX-02 were successfully tested. ISRO sources said that this third Pushpak aircraft was tested in more challenging conditions in strong winds.

Pushpaka For the plane It was launched by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter from a distance of 4.5 metres in the sky. The Pushpak aircraft then automatically made cross range corrections. The release point was 4.5 km from the runway.

See ISRO’s ex-post here –

ISRO’s hat-trick in RLV LEX! 🚀

🇮🇳ISRO achieved its third and final success in a row in Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Landing Experiment (LEX) on June 23, 2024.

“Pushpak” executed a precise horizontal landing, demonstrating advanced autonomous capabilities… pic.twitter.com/cGMrw6mmyH

– ISRO (@isro) 23 June 2024

Thus Pushpak was born

Pushpak approached the runway and made a horizontal landing on the center line, the landing velocity was more than 320 km/h due to the lift-to-drag reduction of Pushpak. This speed was more than the landing speed of 260 kmph for a commercial aircraft and 280 kmph for a normal fighter aircraft. The purpose of landing the reusable launch vehicle is to retrieve the rocket booster. Which will be used to launch spacecraft. So this Pushpak aircraft will be reused after refueling. ISRO’s reusable launch vehicle (RLV) will be launched separately from SpaceX. This launch vehicle is capable of covering a distance of more than ten thousand kilometers in low Earth orbit.