 "Gaganyaan")
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is set to undertake a second test flight of the uncrewed Gaganyaan mission on Wednesday, marking another significant stride in the country’s scientific achievement.
Isro chairman S Somanath, during an event organised by the Astronautical Society of India (ASI), in Ahmedabad on April 17, had outlined the upcoming schedule, indicating that after an airdrop test on April 24, two more uncrewed missions are slated for the following year, leading up to the manned mission by the end of the year.
The Gaganyaan initiative will present India's capability in human spaceflight by sending a three-person crew on a three-day journey into a 400-kilometre orbit, followed by a safe return to Earth. The endeavour will put India in the league of nations actively involved in human space exploration, alongside the United States, Russia, and China.
Preliminary unmanned trials for Gaganyaan are scheduled to commence later this year, with Isro aiming to complete seven trial launches by March next year.
What is the Gaganyaan mission
Gaganyaan is a human spaceflight programme to send humans into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and safely return them to Earth.
The programme envisions undertaking the demonstration of human spaceflight to LEO in the short term and laying the foundation for a sustained Indian human space exploration plan. Gaganyaan’s objective is to demonstrate indigenous capability to undertake human space flight missions to LEO.
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The Gaganyaan programme includes two unmanned missions and one manned mission. The manned mission will carry three Indian astronauts to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission and bring them back safely to Earth, landing in Indian waters.
The Gaganyaan mission will develop critical technologies, including human-rated launch vehicles for carrying the crew safely into space, a life support system to provide an Earth-like environment, and crew emergency escape provisions, according to Isro on its website.
The programme includes various precursor missions, such as Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT), and Test Vehicle (TV) flights, to demonstrate technology preparedness levels before carrying out the actual Human Space Flight mission.
The Human Rated LVM3 (HLVM3) is identified as the launch vehicle for the Gaganyaan mission, with all systems re-configured to meet human rating requirements. The Orbital Module (OM) comprises the Crew Module (CM) and Service Module (SM), with the CM serving as the habitable space with an earth-like environment in space for the crew and designed for re-entry to ensure safety during descent till touchdown. The SM provides necessary support to the CM while in orbit.
India's manned space mission is managed by Isro, which is collaborating with partner vendors to develop a fully indigenous technology stack for Gaganyaan's space infrastructure, distinguishing it from the US approach, which often involves contracting private firms for such endeavours.
India’s landing on the moon
In addition to its aspirations in human spaceflight, India has made significant strides in lunar exploration, with the Chandrayaan missions yielding crucial findings regarding the presence of water on the lunar surface.
Chandrayaan-3, launched on August 23 last year, marked India's successful entry into the elite group of nations capable of landing rovers on the moon. Through initiatives like Gaganyaan, India aims to further enhance its standing in applied research projects in space exploration, contributing to the global space ecosystem, as claimed by Isro.
