Second Space Shuttle ' Pushpak Viman' Autonomous Landing Test Successful

Space News ,India :-  In the wee hours of March 22, 2024, at 7:10 am Indian time, something amazing happened at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga, Karnataka. It was the second time that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) conducted a very special test called the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission, or RLV-LEX-02. The first time they did this was on April 2, 2023, at the same time of day.

What ISRO did in this test was to see if they could make a spacecraft land all by itself. They had a special vehicle called the RLV, which stands for Reusable Launch Vehicle, and it's like a small spaceship with wings. This time, they wanted to see if it could land itself even if things didn't go exactly as planned.

Here's what they did: they took this RLV, nicknamed Pushpak, and lifted it high up into the air using a big helicopter from the Indian Air Force called a Chinook. They released Pushpak from the helicopter when it was about 4.5 kilometers above the ground and 4 kilometers away from the landing runway.

Now, here's the cool part: Pushpak had to figure out how to get itself to the runway and land safely all on its own. It had to make adjustments for things like wind and direction, just like a real pilot would. And guess what? It did it! Pushpak landed perfectly on the runway, slowing down using its own brakes and a parachute.

This whole test was like a practice run for when real spacecraft come back from space. When a spaceship re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, it's moving super fast, so landing safely is a big challenge. By doing this test, ISRO wanted to make sure they had all the right technology to handle that.

The best part? They did all of this using parts and systems they had already used before. It's like using your favorite toy over and over again, but making sure it still works perfectly every time. They even made some parts stronger based on what they learned from the first test.

Dr. S Unnikrishnan Nair, the Director of VSSC, was really happy with how things went. He said that by doing this test again and again, ISRO is getting really good at landing spacecraft all on their own. And that's a huge step forward for future missions where spacecraft have to come back to Earth from orbit.

The big boss of ISRO, S Somanath, congratulated the team for pulling off this tricky mission without a hitch. It's a big deal because it shows that ISRO is ready for whatever challenges come their way when it comes to space exploration.

So, what did ISRO do? They made a small spaceship called Pushpak land all by itself, even when things didn't go exactly as planned. And they did it using parts they already had and making them even better. It's a big step forward for India's space program, showing that they're ready for whatever space throws at them!