ISRO will carry out the first runway landing experiment with a reusable launch vehicle

The Indian Space Research Organisation appears to have scheduled the maiden runway landing experiment (RLV-LEX) of the Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), with its chairman S. Somanath noting that the weather is being monitored.

"We're looking at the weather. The weather is still bad. So we're just waiting for the wind and other systems to calm down. We shall do so "Somanath, who is also the Secretary for Space, told PTI.

According to ISRO officials, the RLV wing body will be transported by helicopter to a height of three to five kilometres before being launched with a horizontal velocity four to five kilometres in front of the runway.

After being released, the RLV will glide to the runway and land independently with landing gear at a defence airfield near Chitradurga.
ISRO successfully completed its maiden RLV-TD HEX-01 (Hypersonic Flight Experiment-01) mission from SDSC SHAR on May 23, 2016, proving key technologies for the design and flight testing of re-entry vehicles.

It was, however, a suborbital trip intended to land on the sea. According to ISRO, one of the essential technologies to be tested in the RLV-LEX mission is approach and autonomous landing on a runway.

According to ISRO authorities, in order to gain end-to-end reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology capabilities, this milestone (RLV-LEX) must be completed before the RLV ORE (Orbital Re-Entry Experiment) mission. The Orbital Re-entry Vehicle (ORV) will be launched into orbit by an ascent vehicle composed of the present GSLV and PSLV stages, remain in orbit for a predetermined amount of time, re-enter the atmosphere, and land on a runway without human intervention in ORE.