The unmanned flight test for the Gaganyaan mission is scheduled for 8 am on October 21 from SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday reviewed the readiness of Gaganyaan Mission. He 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.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in a tweet, said that the test mission would be a short-duration mission. The first development flight Test Vehicle (TV-D1) will be a single-stage liquid rocket developed for the 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.
The crew module is where the astronauts are contained in a pressurised earth-like atmospheric condition during the Gaganyaan mission.
The 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, ISRO said.
At the review meeting, Department of Space presented a comprehensive overview of the Gaganyaan Mission, including various technologies developed so far such as human-rated launch vehicles and system qualification.
Around 20 major tests, including three uncrewed missions of the Human Rated Launch Vehicle (HLVM3) are planned. First demonstration flight of the Crew Escape System Test Vehicle is scheduled on 21 October. The meeting evaluated the mission’s readiness, affirming its launch in 2025, says a release.
Moon mission
The Department of Space will develop a roadmap for moon exploration. This will encompass a series of Chandrayaan missions, the development of a Next Generation Launch Vehicle, construction of a new launch pad, setting up human-centric laboratories and associated technologies.
The Prime Minister called upon Indian scientists to work towards interplanetary missions that would include a Venus Orbiter Mission and a Mars Lander. He expressed confidence in India’s capabilities and affirmed the nation’s commitment to scaling new heights in space exploration, the release said.