Mission Gaganyaan: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday offered a sneak peek at the first crew module for the Gaganyaan test flight that has taken shape. The national space agency will soon commence unmanned flight tests for the Gaganyaan mission and the preparations for the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1), which demonstrates the performance of the Crew Escape System, are underway. ISRO also informed that the Indian Navy will help in the recovery of the Crew Module after its touchdown in the Bay of Bengal.
What is a Crew Module?
ISRO on Saturday shared pictures of the first crew module for the Gaganyaan test flight and said that it has taken shape. The space agency in an official statement explained that the Crew Module (CM) is where the astronauts are contained in a pressurized earthlike atmospheric condition during the Gaganyaan mission. As per ISRO, The Crem Module for the Gaganyaan mission is in different stages of development. For the Test Vehicle Abort mission-1 (TV-D1), the Crew Module 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.
How Indian Navy will help ISRO?
"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," said ISRO.
ISRO further informed 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.
How ISRO will manage a safe touchdown?
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 Crew Escape Systems 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, ISRO said. "This Test Vehicle mission with this CMis a significant milestone for the overall Gaganyaan programas 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," the statement reads.
