The India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to commence unmanned flight tests for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission with the launch of a test vehicle on Saturday, October 21. The test vehicle will be launched between 7 am to 9 am from the Sriharikota Space Centre to demonstrate the performance of the crew escape system.
The test flight can be watched LIVE from 0730 Hours (IST) on October 21. Students and the general public can witness the launch from Sriharikota, by registering on the portal. Registration commenced on October 17 at 6 pm.
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Speaking to reporters, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said that three more test vehicle missions would be launched under the Gaganyaan programme after the TV-D1 test flight on October 21. The Test Vehicle Development Flight (TV-D1) is aimed at testing the crew module (CM) that will carry Indian astronauts during human spaceflight late next year. The TV-D1 test flight involves launching the unmanned crew module to outer space, bringing it back to earth and recovering it after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal.
Significance of the test
The success of the test will set the stage for the first unmanned "Gaganyaan" mission and ultimately, a manned mission to outer space in a low-earth orbit, the minister said. Before the ultimate manned "Gaganyaan" mission, there will be a test flight next year, which will carry "Vyommitra", a female robot astronaut, Sing added.
About the Gaganyaan project
The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a human crew to an orbit of 400 km and bringing them safely back to Earth by landing in Indian sea waters. 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.
The CM is where the astronauts are contained in a pressurised earthlike atmospheric condition during the Gaganyaan space mission, the ISRO stated. This flight will simulate the abort condition during the ascent trajectory corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 encountered in the Gaganyaan mission. This unpressurised CM version has to have an overall size and mass of actual Gaganyaan CM. As per the space agency, the CM in this mission is extensively instrumented to capture the flight data for evaluation of the performance of various systems.
(With PTI inputs)
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