Bangalore, October 8. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released pictures of the Gaganyaan spacecraft which is set to take humans to space in December 2024. The space agency also said that they will soon start unmanned flight tests for the mission.
“ISRO to commence unmanned flight tests for the Gaganyaan mission. Preparations for the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1), which demonstrates the performance of the Crew Escape System, are underway,” the agency said in a tweet.
The Gaganyaan project would demonstrate India’s capability of taking a crew of two to three members to a circular orbit of about 400 km around the earth for a one-to-three days mission and bring them back safely to earth, by landing in a designated location in Indian sea waters.
The agency in a release regarding the First Crew Module for Gaganyaan test flight said that the first development flight Test Vehicle (TV-D1) is in the final stages of preparation.
“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 will simulate the abort condition during the ascent trajectory corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 encountered in the Gaganyaan mission,” the release said.
The Crew Module after integration underwent various electrical testing, at ISRO’s facility in Bangalore, including an acoustic test and was dispatched to SDSC-SHAR on August 13, the release added.
Crew Module (CM) is where the astronauts are contained in a pressurized earthlike atmospheric condition during the Gaganyaan mission.
The Crew Module for the Gaganyaan mission is in different stages of development. For the Test Vehicle Abort mission-1 (TV-D1), the CM is an unpressurised version that has completed its integration and testing and is ready to be shipped to the launch complex.
This unpressurised CM version has to have an overall size and mass of actual Gaganyaan CM.
It houses all the systems for the deceleration and recovery. With its complete set of parachutes, recovery aids actuation systems and pyros.
The avionics systems in CM are in a dual redundant mode configuration for navigation, sequencing, telemetry, instrumentation and power.
The CM in this mission is extensively instrumented to capture the flight data for evaluation of the performance of various systems.
The Crew Module will be recovered after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal, using a dedicated vessel and diving team from the Indian Navy.
The first development flight Test Vehicle (TV-D1) is in the final stages of preparation. 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 the fast-acting solid motors, along with CM fairing (CMF) and Interface Adapters. This flight will simulate the abort condition during the ascent trajectory corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 encountered in the Gaganyaan mission.
CES with CM will be separated from the Test Vehicle at an altitude of about 17 km. Subsequently, the abort sequence will be executed autonomously commencing with the separation of CES and deployment of the series of parachutes, finally culminating in the safe touchdown of CM in the sea, about 10 km from the coast of Sriharikota.
The Crew Module after integration underwent various electrical testing, at ISRO’s facility in Bengaluru, including an acoustic test and was dispatched to SDSC-SHAR on 13th August. At SDSC, it will undergo vibration tests and pre-integration with the Crew Escape System, before final integration to the Test Vehicle at the Launch Pad.
Test Vehicle mission with this CM is a significant milestone for the overall Gaganyaan programme as a near-complete system is integrated for a flight test.
The success of this test flight will set the stage for the remaining qualification tests and unmanned missions, leading to the first Gaganyaan mission with Indian Astronauts.
