View article
View summary
#^ISRO Moves Toward Pushpak `Indian Space Shuttle’ With Landing Gear Drop Test FacilityIndia’s space agency went one step further in the development of Pushpak – a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) or the `Indian Space Shuttle’ with the setting up of a landing gear drop test facility at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Kerala, in Southern India. The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable spacecraft system operated by the US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) between 1981 – 2011.
According to
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the facility will be used to test and qualify the deployable landing gear system for the winged RLV-Pushpak.
ISRO is developing Pushpak with a deployable landing gear towards the RLV-Orbital Re-entry Experiment (RLV-OREX).
Pushpak under testing
The Pushpak will be launched to orbit in an ascent vehicle. After a few orbits, Pushpak will reenter the atmosphere and land on a runway for which the deployable landing gear is required.
The landing gear drop facility has the capability to test various types of landing gears, such as telescopic, articulated and semi-articulated types and has several key features, such as an adjustable drop mass up to 2,000 kg to simulate various aircraft and airport altitudes and adjustable drop height.
The Indian space agency said the test rig is capable of simulating landing velocities up to 360 km/hr (100 m/s) with adjustable wheel spin speeds up to 5,000 rpm.
The test setup also allows simulation of various landing sink rates, up to 4.8 m/s. Different runway conditions such as asphalt, concrete, dry, wet and icy surfaces can also be simulated.
A comprehensive sensor suite is also part of the facility in order to measure the various parameters at the touch down point such as accelerometers to sense acceleration and velocity, high resolution displacement sensors such as linear variable differential transformers (LVDT) and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to sense the vertical motion and tri-axial load cells and strain gauges to sense landing forces, strain and moments experienced by the landing gear.
This facility also integrates multiple safety features, such as a platform impact protector and a self-lock mechanism for the drop release actuator, ensuring protection for both personnel and test articles.
The landing gear test facility is expected to accelerate the development and flight qualification of advanced reusable launch vehicles and aircraft technologies in India.
Credit: ISRO
In June 2024, ISRO successfully carried out the third RLV Landing Experiment to demonstrate the autonomous landing capability of Pushpak after it was released from an Indian Air Force Chinook Helicopter at an altitude of 4.5 km.
ISRO is developing Pushpak to bring down the launch cost to about $500-$1,000 per kilogram and in the process democratise access to space and to make the space missions more affordable for various applications.
The post
ISRO Moves Toward Pushpak `Indian Space Shuttle’ With Landing Gear Drop Test Facility appeared first on
Orbital Today.
