New Delhi: At the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025, ISRO Chairman V Narayanan revealed plans for developing boosters capable of vertical takeoff vertical landing (VTVL), a crucial capability necessary for developing reusable rockets and bringing down the cost of access to space. The biggest cost of spaceflight is lifting the payload through the lower atmosphere by the first stage or booster. Being able to recover and reuse this booster allows for significantly bringing down the cost of access to space, as demonstrated by SpaceX with its Falcon 9. In space, the capability allows for ‘planet hopping’ spaceships that can liftoff after landing, or rapidly move across the surface as well.

The slide with the VTVL Test Vehicle shown at the Bengaluru Tech Summit. (Image Credit: ISRO/BTS).

V Narayanan

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