Daily UPSC Current /Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)

Why in news ? The Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) was recenty in  news regarding the ISRO missions in space.

About RLV :

A Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) is a spacecraft or rocket designed to return to Earth substantially intact, allowing it to be refurbished and launched again for subsequent missions.

For decades, rockets were “expendable”—meaning they were discarded in the ocean or burned up in the atmosphere after a single use.Modern RLV technology is currently revolutionizing the space industry by treating rockets more like airplanes.

How it Works?

Most RLVs are “partially reusable,” meaning only the largest and most expensive part (the first-stage booster) is recovered.

• Vertical Landing: Used by SpaceX (Falcon 9).After separation, the booster uses “grid fins” to steer itself and reignites its engines (entry burn and landing burn) to land vertically on a drone ship or a landing pad.
• Horizontal Landing (Spaceplanes): Used by the Space Shuttle (retired) and currently ISRO’s RLV-TD (Pushpak). These vehicles have wings and land on a runway like a traditional aircraft.
• Parachute Recovery: Some systems, like Rocket Lab’s Electron, have experimented with using parachutes to slow down components for mid-air capture or soft water landings.

• Why Reusability Matters?

The primary driver for RLVs is cost.

• Economics: Building a rocket costs tens of millions of dollars. If you only pay for fuel and minor refurbishment instead of a brand-new rocket every time, the cost per kilogram of payload drops significantly.
• Cadence: Reusability allows for a much higher frequency of launches. SpaceX, for example, can now launch several times a week because they have a fleet of flight-proven boosters.
• Sustainability: It reduces the amount of “space junk” and marine debris caused by discarded rocket stages falling back to Earth.
• Major Players and Vehicles (2026 Status):