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For this purpose a Winged [[Reusable launch system|Reusable Launch Vehicle]] technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) has been configured. The RLV-TD will act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies like hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air-breathing propulsion.<ref>http://www.isro.org/rep2009/citizens.htm</ref>
==Test Missions==
A total of four RLV-TD flights are planned by ISRO.<ref>http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/media/33219-5/IMG_0024.JPG</ref>
* '''HEX''' ([[Hypersonic Flight Experiment]])
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* '''REX''' (Return Flight Experiment)
* '''SPEX''' (Scramjet Propulsion Experiment)
===Scaled-down tests===
In January 2012, ISRO announced that a scaled prototype, called '''Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator''' ('''RLV-TD'''), was approved to be built and tested.<ref name="FinalTouches2015"/>. The aerodynamics characterization of the RLV-TD prototype was done by [[National Aerospace Laboratories]] in India. The unmanned scaled-down prototype has a diameter of 0.56 m and a length of 10 m.<ref name="Presentation"/> The RLV-TD is in the last stages of construction by a Hyderabad-based private company called CIM Technologies.
By May 2015, engineers at the [[Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre]] (VSSC) in [[Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station]] were installing thermal tiles on the outer surface of the 'RLV-TD', so it can withstand the intense heat during [[Atmospheric entry|atmospheric reentry]].<ref name="FinalTouches2015"/> This prototype weighs around 1.5 tonnes and would fly up to an altitude of 70 km.<ref name="FinalTouches2015"/> ISRO has tentatively slated the prototype's test flight from the first launchpad of [[Satish Dhawan Space Centre]] for July 2015.<ref name="Presentation"/><ref name="FinalTouches2015"/> The RLV-TD will be mounted on top of a rocket and launched beyond the atmosphere, after which the RLV-TD will separate and reenter the atmosphere while traveling through the hypersonic regime.<ref name="Brahmand 2010">{{cite web |url=http://www.brahmand.com/news/Reusable-Launch-Vehicles-%EF%BF%BD-The-future-of-space-missions/5595/3/15.html |title=Reusable Launch Vehicles |work=Brahmand.com |date=November 25, 2010 |accessdate=2014-10-22 }}</ref> The rocket is expendable while the RLV would glide back to Earth and fall in Bay of Bengal as there are no airstrips that are 5 km long in India that could be used to land such aircraft. ISRO has made detailed reports to construct an airstrip greater than 4 km long in the [[Sriharikota]] island and it will be built in near future. <ref name="Indian Express">{{cite web |url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/ISRO-Gears-up-for-6-Major-Missions-This-Year/2015/05/30/article2839810.ece|title=ISRO Gears up for 6 Major Missions This Year|work=Express News Service |date=30 May 2015}}</ref>
==See also==
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