Overview

• India's ISRO successfully tests 'Pushpak', a reusable launch vehicle, marking a major step towards affordable space access.
• The 'Pushpak' vehicle, inspired by the legendary spaceship from the Ramayana, was dropped from an IAF helicopter and landed autonomously on a runway in Karnataka.
• The project aims to reduce space launch costs by making the upper stage of rockets reusable, potentially enabling satellite refueling and retrieval for refurbishment.
• Global efforts towards reusable space planes have largely been abandoned, but India's frugal engineering approach seeks to revolutionize space access.
• The government has invested over Rs 100 crore in the 'Pushpak' project, which is part of India's broader ambition to establish its own space station by 2035.