CHENNAI: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have taken India a step closer to advancing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with hybrid rocket thrusters.
In a sophisticated experiment that combined a real-time hybrid rocket thruster with a virtual simulation, the researchers achieved the necessary velocity for ‘soft landing’ -- a crucial feature for all craft ranging from planetary landing of an unmanned or manned exploration module to terrestrial landing of a VTOL aircraft.
Touchdown velocity is an important parameter to ensure safe vertical landings.