All set for test launch of Gaganyaan
Sand sculpture of Goddess Durga with Prayer for Success of Gaganyaan, created by the sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik, at Puri Beach on Friday
The Crew Module of Gaganyaan houses the crew interfaces, life support system, avionics and deceleration systems. It is also designed for re-entry to ensure the safety of the crew during the descent till touchdown. Ahead of the launch on October 21, the Crew Module underwent various tests at ISRO centres before it was integrated into the launch complex in Sriharikota
Sriharikota: The launch of a single-stage liquid propulsion rocket on Saturday will signal ISRO's journey towards its ambitious human space flight programme, Gaganyaan, when the first crew module test to ensure the safety of astronauts will be conducted by the space agency here.
ISRO aims to send humans into space on a Low Earth Orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission and bring them safely back to earth. Unlike other missions undertaken by the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency, ISRO would attempt a successful launch of its Test Vehicle (TV-D1), a single-stage liquid propulsion rocket, scheduled to lift off from the first launch pad at this spaceport at 8 am on October 21 (Saturday).
The Test Vehicle mission with this crew module is a significant milestone for the overall Gaganyaan programme as a nearly complete system is integrated for a flight test.
Meanwhile, sources on Friday said scientists at Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, are gearing up for a countdown ahead of the lift-off, which is expected to take place later on Friday night or early Saturday.
The success of this test flight would set the stage for the remaining qualification tests and unmanned missions, leading to the first Gaganyaan programme with Indian astronauts, which is expected to take shape in 2025. The crew module is the payload in the rocket and it is a habitable space with an Earth-like environment in space for the crew. It consists of a pressurised metallic ‘inner structure’ and an unpressurised ‘external structure’ with ‘thermal protection systems’.
The entire test flight sequence on Saturday is expected to be brief as the Test Vehicle Abort Mission (TV-D1) will launch the Crew Escape Systems and Crew Module at an altitude of 17 km which are expected to make a safe touchdown in the sea, about 10 km from the eastern coast of Sriharikota. They would be later retrieved by the Navy from the Bay of Bengal.
The TV-D1 vehicle uses a modified VIKAS engine with a Crew Module and Crew Escape System mounted at its fore end. The vehicle is 34.9 metres tall and has a lift-off weight of 44 tonnes. The structure of the TV-D1 flight is a single-walled unpressurised aluminium structure with a simulated thermal protection system.