The first test for the impending Gaganyaan mission, which will monitor the crew escape system’s functionality, will be carried out by ISRO on Saturday.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is scheduled to launch the Gaganyaan mission on Saturday, marking the beginning of the process of launching a crewed spacecraft following the triumph of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. On October 21, at 7.30 AM IST, the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission 1 (TV-D1) is scheduled to launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The goal of the mission is to evaluate the Crew Escape System’s functionality on the Gaganyaan mission’s crew module. In essence, it will test the safety system that will enable the Gaganyaan mission crew to evacuate the spacecraft in the event that mission is aborted due to malfunction.
An early depressurized version of the Gaganyaan crew module will be launched by a single-engine rocket to a height of roughly 17 kilometers during the test. An abort signal will be sent at this point. The crew module will detach from the rocket and release its parachute before splashing down in the Bay of Bengal if the escape system functions as intended. The actual test will not be crewed.
In the real Gaganyaan mission, ISRO intends to show off its ability to send a crewed spacecraft to a height of roughly 400 kilometers above Earth over the course of three days, demonstrating its capability for human spaceflight. Subsequently, the expedition will safely return them to Earth, landing in Indian waters.
The actual Gaganyaan mission will use the identical LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-3) rocket that was used for the Chandrayaan-3 mission, in contrast to the test mission that takes place tomorrow, which will use a single-stage rocket designed for testing.
The successful completion of the Gaganyaan mission will place India among the select four nations capable of launching a crewed spacecraft on their own. China, the Soviet Union, and the United States are the current four members of the list. Three astronauts from China currently reside in a space station that is in orbit.
Launching an astronaut into space will be the first step in the space agency’s ascent to greater heights. In a high-level meeting with ISRO, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi set two goals for the organization: establish an Indian space station by 2035 and send an astronaut from India to the Moon by 2040. In addition, he desired that ISRO pursue missions to land a Mars lander and orbit a Venus orbiter.