Tag: gaganyaan

ISRO Successfully Launches Gaganyaan Test Flight Abort Mission

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath on Saturday announced the success of the ‘TV-D1’ (Test Vehicle Development Flight 1) in the Gaganyaan Mission. The test vehicle was launched on the second attempt after it had faced an engine ignition problem at 8:45am IST. ISRO briefly aborted the launch of the first uncrewed test flight (TV-D1 Flight Test). Later, it said that the errors have been identified and corrected and the second launch was scheduled for 10:00am IST today. 

Addressing the media, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said, “I am very happy to announce the successful accomplishment of the TV-D1 mission. The purpose of this mission was to demonstrate the crew escape system for the Gaganyaan program through a test vehicle demonstration in which the vehicle went up to a Mach number, which is slightly above the speed of sound, and initiated an abort condition for the crew escape system to function.”

“The crew escape system took the crew module away from the vehicle, and subsequent operations, including the touch-down at sea, have been very well accomplished. and we have confirmation of the data for all of this,” he added. 

ISRO chief S Somanath congratulated scientists after the successful touchdown of the crew escape module. 

On the occasion, Mission Director S Sivakumar said, “This is like a never before attempt. It is like a bouquet of three experiments put together. We have now seen the characteristics of all three systems with what we wanted to test through this experiment or this mission. The test vehicle, the crew escape system, the crew module everything, we have perfectly demonstrated in the first attempt. All the systems performed well.”

“We had been at penance for the last 3 to 4 years and the D-day was today. We are very happy to be able to do it on the very first attempt,” he added. 

This Flight test vehicle Abort mission was conducted to demonstrate the performance of the Crew escape system as part of the Gaganyaan mission.

The mission objectives of the TV-D1 launch were Flight demonstration and evaluation of Test Vehicle subsystems; flight demonstration and evaluation of Crew Escape System including various separation systems; crew module characteristics; and deceleration system demonstration at higher altitudes and its recovery.

The Test Vehicle is a single-stage liquid rocket developed for this abort mission. The payloads consist of the Crew Module (CM) and Crew Escape Systems (CES) with their fast-acting solid motors, along with CM fairing (CMF) and Interface Adapters. This flight simulated the abort condition during the ascent trajectory corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 encountered in the Gaganyaan mission.

This mission represents a significant milestone in India’s effort to demonstrate that it is possible to send humans into space.

The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members into an orbit of 400km for a 3-day mission and bringing them safely back to earth by landing in Indian waters.

This programme will make India the fourth nation to launch a manned spaceflight mission after the US, Russia, and China. Building on the success of the Indian space initiatives, including the recent Chandrayan-3 and Aditya L1 missions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed that India should now aim for new and ambitious goals, including setting up ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035 and sending the first Indian to the Moon by 2040.

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ISRO to Conduct Key Test for Gaganyaan Space Mission in October

India is set to conduct a key test in its ambitious crewed space mission Gaganyaan as early as next month, the project director of the mission R Hutton told Reuters.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is currently training four astronauts and looking to expand the cohort as it aims for more future manned missions, Hutton said.

The Gaganyaan mission is aimed at developing a human-habitable space capsule that will carry a three-member crew into an orbit of 400 km (250 miles) for three days, before returning to safety in a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

ISRO has said it will explore ways to achieve a sustained human presence in space once Gaganyaan is completed.

The team is aiming to test its crew escape system, which can be used to eject astronauts in emergencies, before undertaking a battery of other tests before the final launch phase, Hutton said, adding: “Safety is the most important thing we need to ensure”.

About Rs. 90.23 billion has been allocated for the mission, which comes after the space agency’s historical landing of its Chandrayaan-3 craft on the lunar south pole. 

While an exact timeline has not been shared, the mission is expected to be launched from the country’s main spaceport in Sriharikota before 2024.

The space agency has previously said its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre had successfully tested systems for stabilising the crew module and safely reducing its velocity during re-entry.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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ISRO Decided Not to Rush Its Gaganyaan Project to Space, Says Chairman S Somanath

Indian Space Research Organisation has decided not to rush its Gaganyaan project, the manned mission to space, as it wants to ensure that the country’s first human space flight is a ‘sure shot safe mission’, said its chairman S Somanath here on Thursday.

Gaganyaan was set to launch in 2022 but due to COVID-19 there was an inordinate delay, Somanath told reporters during the international conference on Spacecraft Mission Operations (SMOPS-2023).

“We have a different thinking now. Our thinking is like this that we don’t want to rush. That decision we have taken. The primary objective of the human space flight is a sure shot safe mission,” the ISRO chief said.

The space agency has redefined the mission in such a way that it will achieve success in the very first attempt. For this, it has enhanced the testing and demonstration mission substantially in recent times. These exercises involve additional abort missions to ensure the safety of the crew, he explained.

According to Somanath, the first exercise will probably happen in August, which was earlier planned in July.

“So, two abort missions have to take place this year followed by an unmanned mission possibly by the beginning of next year,” the ISRO chairman said.

The space scientist said all the engine test programmes have been completed within ISRO.

Stating that hectic activities are taking place, Somanath said every week at least some major tests are happening.

“For me, eight major tests are there and if all the tests successfully happen without any glitch, the launch will between 2024 and 2025 time frame. But if I face problems and challenges, which are natural in this process, I have to discount for the schedule,” he added.

About India’s first solar mission, Aditya-L1, Somanath said the launch window is August this year to January next year.

“If we cannot launch it in August then we will go to next year January,” he added.

Regarding Chandrayaan-3, ISRO’s third moon mission, Somanath said it is due to be launched in mid July. ISRO will follow the same process that was adopted during the Chandrayaan-2 mission, he said.

“We are going in the same path of Chandrayaan-2 because we have already done that. We have experience to do it in that manner but it all depends on various other factors whether there are any other contingency conditions,” Somanath said, adding, “The landing flight is just the same as previously. No change.” To a query on how indigenous Chandrayaan-3 is, the ISRO chairman said, “What we are doing in ISRO is 100 per cent indigenous. We are not buying anything from anybody to do it but of course we buy some components such as electronic chips, processors, some high-end devices, but we don’t buy Chandrayaan lander from anybody.” 

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ISRO to Launch Chandrayaan-3, Its Third Mission to Moon, in June 2023

ISRO plans to launch Chandrayaan-3, its third mission to the moon, in June next year with a more robust lunar rover onboard which is crucial for future inter-planetary explorations.

The space agency has also lined up the first test flight of the ‘abort mission’ for Gaganyaan, the country’s first human spaceflight, early next year.

“Chandrayaan-3 (C-3) launch will be in June next year onboard the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3),” said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somnath while interacting with media personnel on the sidelines during an event.

He said ISRO plans to fly Indian astronauts into orbit by the end of 2024 after carrying out successful abort missions and uncrewed test flights.

India’s maiden attempt to land a rover on the moon ended in failure after the Vikram lander onboard the Chandrayaan-2 mission crashed on the surface of the moon in September 2019.

“C-3 is ready now. It is not a replica of C-2. The rover is there. The engineering is significantly different. We have made it more robust so that it does not have problems like last time,” Somnath said.

“There are many changes. The impact legs are stronger. It will have better instrumentation. In case something fails, something else will take over,” the ISRO chairman said.

He said the rover will also have different methods to calculate the height to be travelled, identify hazard-free locations and have better software.

On the human spaceflight Gaganyaan, Somnath said ISRO would carry out six test flights before actually flying humans into orbit.

Somnath said the preparations for the Gaganyaan mission were progressing at a “slow and steady pace”.

“This is the right way to put it. It is a very complex mission. We cannot boast about it. It requires very critical steps to be crossed,” he said.

The first un-crewed flight of Gaganyaan will be after two abort missions to demonstrate that the space agency has the capabilities to rescue the crew in case of any eventuality.

The first abort mission is likely to be carried out in trans-sonic conditions when the spacecraft is travelling at the speed of sound after reaching an altitude of 10-15 kms, Somnath said.

The second would entail demonstrating crew rescue capabilities when the spacecraft is travelling at twice the speed of sound and in “not so good” aerodynamic conditions.

As part of the abort mission, the space scientists will have to sail the crew from the launch vehicle using a saving system, land the capsule carrying the crew in water and collect it.

“If this is successful, we will repeat it once again and then we will go for an unmanned mission. The unmanned mission will be a full-fledged rocket. It will go to orbit, then it will come back,” Somnath said.

“We will repeat the abort missions two more times followed by another unmanned mission,” he said, adding that the human space flight will happen if these six test flights are successful.

 

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ISRO Ropes in Doctors to Build Human-Rated Spacecraft for India’s Gaganyaan Mission

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is taking help of doctors in building its human-rated spacecraft for the Gaganyaan mission, India’s first human spaceflight that aims to take astronauts into a low earth orbit.

The ISRO has roped in doctors to understand the impact of the spaceflight on humans and will design the spacecraft accordingly.

The astronauts selected for the mission have also been involved in making of the orbital module.

“There are four astronauts who are part of Gaganyaan. We talk to them. They sit in a cockpit. We ask them to go through this and tell us whether the placing of equipment is correct, whether the lighting is correct or whether the edges are causing discomfort,” ISRO Chairman S Somnath said during a brainstorming session with health experts on the use of space technology in emergency medical services.

Somanth said scientists at the ISRO were developing the human-rated spacecraft.

“We also look at various measures of quality to increase the reliability and finally to prove the redundancy,” Somnath said, adding that space agencies the world over, including ISRO, have imbibed developing failsafe systems as a culture.

“We are also looking at how doctors can connect with the human spacecraft design. There is an interaction happening with doctors and engineers on the designing of the human spacecraft. If you have to conduct a successful human space flight and sustain it in India, we need a strong pool of doctors who will get involved in this human spaceflight mission as well,” he said.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh has said that the first unmanned mission in the Gaganyaan series was expected to be launched next year. This would be followed by another unmanned mission, before Indian astronauts board the spacecraft for a sojourn in a low earth orbit.

According to a senior ISRO official, a human-rated spacecraft should be able to accommodate the crew as if they are living in normal acceptable conditions and they should be able to perform various activities during their stay.

The engineers have to design the spacecraft by identifying potential hazards and developing systems to control such happenings.

The spacecraft also should have the facility to safely recover the crew from any hazardous situation.

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