Gaganyaan Milestone: ISRO Prepares For Unmanned Flight Trials

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Saturday that it is poised to initiate unmanned flight tests for the Gaganyaan mission. The highly anticipated abort test for India's inaugural human spaceflight endeavor is expected to occur later this month.

In a statement, ISRO said, "Preparations for the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1), which showcases the capabilities of the Crew Escape System, are currently in progress."

Crew Module (CM) is where the astronauts are contained in a pressurized earth like atmospheric condition during the Gaganyaan mission. The CM for the Gaganyaan mission is in different stages of development. For the Test Vehicle Abort mission-1 (TV-D1), the CM 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.

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.

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. This flight will simulate the abort condition during the ascent trajectory corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 encountered in the Gaganyaan mission. CES with CMwill 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.

This Test Vehicle mission with this CM is 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.