Gaganyaan not to be one-off Human Space Flight Mission, Union government grants approval to sustained HSF Programme
- A senior ISRO official said that India’s Gaganyaan mission will not be a “one-off” mission as the central government has granted approval for a “sustained human space flight program”.
- The official at ISRO said Gaganyaan’s non-pilot crew members on future missions will include citizens, women, medical professionals, and scientists to conduct scientific research in space
- future missions will be decided after the national space agency demonstrates its capabilities by carrying out the nation’s first successful human spaceflight
- “In follow-up missions, there will be women, there will be civilians from non-defence backgrounds, there will be doctors and scientists flying out to space,” Khan said.
- The Gaganyaan mission, which would cost 10,000 crores, was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address in 2018.
Bangalore, April 19. The director of ISRO’s Directorate of Human Spaceflight Program Imtiaz Ali Khan, while addressing the event named ‘Be Inspired: Festival of Ideas’ in Bangalore, said that the follow-on space missions of Gaganyaan might include civilians such as doctors and scientists.
He said that for the first human spaceflight which is planned to launch next year, four Air Force pilots have been selected and are undergoing extensive training for the mission.
“Gaganyaan will not be a one-off mission as the government has given us approval for a sustained human spaceflight (HSF) program.”
He further said that future missions will be decided after the national space agency demonstrates its capabilities by carrying out the nation’s first successful human spaceflight.
A longer stay in microgravity is necessary for the type of benefit that one expects from the HSF program, and new technologies like rendezvous and docking must be developed.
Non-pilot crew members on future missions will include citizens, women, medical professionals, and scientists to conduct scientific research in space.
Age is not a very strict criteria need for space missions, as long as the individual is agile, fit, able to comprehend procedures, and performs well on simulators during training sessions, Khan said.
As soon as the results of the two orbital test flights are known, ISRO hopes to launch at least two astronauts into low-Earth orbit in 2024.
A significant milestone in the advancement of the Gaganyaan human spaceflight program was achieved last week when ISRO successfully conducted the final long-duration hot test of the human-rated L110-G Vikas engine.
The Gaganyaan mission, which would cost 10,000 crores, was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address in 2018.
The Indian Space Research Organisation is now drawing up a new criteria to recruit astronauts from outside the defence staff for its future missions. Khan added that other countries with space programs are already doing this.
Recently, ISRO successfully conducted qualification tests of Cryogenic Engine for the Gaganyaan program for a duration of 720 seconds at ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre.
“If you see examples from other human space flight programs, the people who fly are very diverse. If you notice, even age is not a very strict criterion today—people as old as 70 years old also go to space,” he added.
Khan said the sustained crewed missions to space open up opportunities to study previously untapped fields of science in India — such as space chemistry and biology.
He noted that there are some kinds of drugs that can be perfected in microgravity environments.
“The astronauts will not only conduct experiments in space but will be subjects (of experiments) themselves,” said Khan.
A sustained crewed mission will help researchers study the effects of microgravity on the human body, and subsequently help develop therapies that can be used to treat astronauts in the future who go on long-term, deep space missions.
“We need to develop new technologies like inflatable habitats and docking capsules. We are also having discussions with other space agencies to learn if we can dock to the existing space station,” Khan added.
He noted that the first uncrewed test mission is slated for January next year.
The Gaganyaan mission will carry two to three astronauts aboard a space capsule some 400 kilometres above the Earth’s surface.
The capsule will stay in space for three days – during which the astronauts will carry out a set of planned experiments.
Currently, a team in DRDO is working on developing food for the astronauts.
ISRO has also decided that the crew will not be referred to as ‘astronauts’. They will be given a new moniker that suits Indian sensibilities.
