Vertical takeoff and vertical landing describes a spacecraft or aircraft that lifts off straight up and returns to Earth in the exact same orientation. In rocketry, this architecture allows the booster stage to return to a pad or drone ship using its own engines to decelerate. Engineers favor this method for reusable launch systems because it eliminates the mass penalty of wings or heavy landing gear.
The new booster is a VTVL design, so we need to upgrade the landing pad to handle the exhaust plume.
When discussing rockets, VTVL implies the vehicle lands on its tail using propulsive thrust rather than gliding back to a runway.
Do not mix it up with
- VTOL: VTOL usually refers to aircraft like helicopters or jump jets, while VTVL is heavily used for reusable rocket boosters.
Related terms
VTOL
Vertical takeoff and landing refers to aircraft that can hover, take off, and land straight down.
VTHL
Vertical takeoff and horizontal landing describes a vehicle that launches straight up but lands on a runway.
Launch vehicle
A rocket or other system used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into space.