Tag: Gaganyaan

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Meet the Astronauts For India’s Gaganyaan Mission

The four Indian astronauts were trained at Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia….reports Asian Lite News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday the names of the four astronauts who will be part of India’s first human space flight program, Gaganyaan, slated to be launched in 2024-25.

The four chosen Indian Air Force pilots are Group Captain Prashanth Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla. The four astronauts were trained at Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a visit to Kerala, reviewed the progress of Gaganyaan mission and bestowed ‘astronaut wings’ to the astronaut-designates at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. The Gaganyaan mission is India’s first human space flight program for which extensive preparations are underway at various ISRO centres.

“India’s success in the space sector is sowing the seeds of scientific temperament in the country’s young generation,” PM Modi said in his address at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

“As India is set to become the top-3 economy of the world, at the same time the country’s Gaganyaan is also going to take our space sector to a new height.”

As per ISRO, Gaganyaan project envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching crew of three members to an orbit of 400 km for a three days mission and bring them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.

The pre-requisites for Gaganyaan mission include development of many critical technologies including human rated launch vehicle for carrying crew safely to space, Life Support System to provide an earth like environment to crew in space, crew emergency escape provision and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation of crew.

Various precursor missions are planned for demonstrating the Technology Preparedness Levels before carrying out the actual Human Space Flight mission. These demonstrator missions include Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT) and Test Vehicle (TV) flights. Safety and reliability of all systems will be proven in unmanned missions preceding manned mission.

LVM3 rocket – The well proven and reliable heavy lift launcher of ISRO, is identified as the launch vehicle for Gaganyaan mission.

Human safety is of paramount importance in Gaganyaan mission. In order to ensure the same, various new technologies comprising of Engineering systems and Human centric systems are being developed and realised.

In 2023, in a stellar display of prowess, India soared to new heights with the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the South Pole of the Moon and the successful launch of Aditya-L1, India’s first solar mission.

These milestones not only secured India’s standing in the global space economy but also fueled the engines for the private space sector in India.

Among other feats India now aims for setting up ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ by 2035, and sending the first Indian to the Moon by 2040. (ANI)

People Celebrate in Group Captain Nair’s Hometown

Celebrations broke out across Pazhya gramam at Nenmara in Kerala’s Palakkad – the hometown of Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair – after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the IAF officer name as commander of the country’s ambitous Gaganyaan Mission.

The crowds gathered outside Nair’s house and started to celebrate amid sloganeering and fireworks.

Nair’s parents had gone to ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) centre to listen to PM Modi.

Earlier, PM Modi applauded Nair and also presented an astronaut’s badge to him.

Group Captain Nair (47) completed his schooling from Kuwait where his father worked. Following their return to India, Nair joined the Chinmaya Mission School at Palakkad.

Nair joined 93rd NDA course in Khadakwasla and then entered 163rd Pilot’s Course at the Air Force Academy from where he passed out with flying colours and bagging the ‘Sword of Honour’ given to the best outgoing cadet.

Nair was commissioned on June 19, 1999.

Nair’s long-time neighbour, an elderly woman, could not hide her happiness and came out to greet the crowd who gathered outside following the news of Nair.

“I have known Nair since the age of 4. He is a humble and polite person. We last saw him when he came home on leave, last year. He is a blessed man and his parents have already prayed for him,” said the elderly woman, who could not hide her tears of joy.

Nenmara MLA K. Babu was also among the crowd who were celebrating. “This is a huge honor for Nenmara. Each one of us is excited and proud that Nair has got this rare honour,” Babu said.

The celebrating people are also planning to give Nair a grand reception whenever he visits his hometown after his professional duties get over.

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ISRO Aces Crucial Test For Human Space Mission

After twists & turns, the Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO, successfully flight tests crew escape system, module for human space mission, reports Venkatachari Jagannathan

After some twists and turns and suspense, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday successfully flight tested the crew escape system, crew module that would carry the country’s astronauts sometime in 2025.

The mission was called Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1).

Announcing the mission’s success ISRO Chairman S.Somanath said: “The TV-D1 mission was to demonstrate the crew escape system for Gaganyaan (the name for Indian human space mission).”

He said the parachutes opened and the crew module touch down on the Bay of Bengal at the required velocity.

The crew module will be recovered from the sea by the Indian Navy ship and brought to the Chennai Port.

The space agency will then study the data.

On the twists and turns, Somanath said owing to the weather and poor visibility conditions the launch which was originally slated at 8 a.m. was postponed to 8.45 a.m. And just five seconds before the lift off from the first launch pad, the computer systems held back the rocket due to a non-conformance in the system.

He said the issue was identified and sorted out quickly.

The rocket had to be filled with gases and then the mission happened.

Measuring about 35 tall and weighing about 44 tonnes, the test vehicle/rocket uses a modified Vikas engine which is powered by liquid fuel.

The ISRO had modified the L40 booster Vikas engine used to power the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) formerly called GSLV-Mk2.

The crew module and crew escape system are mounted at the fore end of the rocket.

Five seconds to lift off and while one was able to see some fire and some smoke from the rocket’s tail, the full fledged ignition did not happen and the automatic launch sequence was put on hold.

This in turn brought the memories of the first flight of GSLV-D1 way back in March 2001. Then, the rocket was held back just one second before it was to lift off carrying communication satellite GSAT-1.

Even then some initial ignition was noticed but soon it stopped.

The rocket was subsequently launched on April 18, 2001 Be that as it may, with the lift off on hold, Somanath had announced postponement of the TV-D1 launch to a future date.

However the ISRO team quickly checked and sorted out the reason for the launch put on hold. The test rocket finally lifted off from the first launch pad here at 10 a.m. and the whole mission got completed in about nine minutes.

“It was a big training for the Gaganyaan mission,” Somanath said.

The entire flight sequence — from the test rocket’s lift off to the crew module touchdown at the sea with the deployment of parachutes – took about nine minutes.

According to ISRO, the mass of the crew module is 4,520 kg and is a single walled unpressurised aluminium structure.

At about 61 seconds into the flight and at an altitude of 11.9 km, the test vehicle/rocket and the crew escape system got separated. Soon after that the crew module and crew escape system got separated.

Subsequently, the abort sequence was executed autonomously commencing with the separation of crew escape system and deployment of the series of parachutes, finally culminating in the safe touchdown of the crew module in the sea, about 10 km from the coast of Sriharikota.

The crew module will house the astronauts in a pressurised earthlike atmospheric condition during the real human space mission.

Currently the crew module for the Gaganyaan mission is in different stages of development.

The TV-D1 is an unpressurised version but has an overall size and mass of actual Gaganyaan crew module and would house all the systems for the deceleration and recovery.

The avionics systems in the crew module are in a dual redundant mode configuration for navigation, sequencing, telemetry, instrumentation and power.

According to ISRO, the crew module in this mission is extensively instrumented to capture the flight data for evaluation of the performance of various systems.

The deceleration of the crew module was done with parachutes with pyro systems when it was at about an altitude of 17 km.

The crew module finally splashed down on Bay of Bengal at about 10 km from the launch pad at Sriharikota.

This Test Vehicle mission with this crew module is a significant milestone for the overall Gaganyaan programme as a near-complete system is integrated for a flight test.

The success of this test flight has set the stage for the remaining qualification tests and unmanned missions, leading to the first Gaganyaan mission with Indian astronauts.

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ISRO’s Crucial Test Nears for Human Spaceflight

Preparations for the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1), which demonstrates the performance of the Crew Escape System, are underway

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is preparing for the first Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1) to demonstrate the crew escape system as part of its human space mission called Gaganyaan.

According to the space agency, it will commence unmanned flight tests for the Gaganyaan mission.

“Preparations for the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1), which demonstrates the performance of the Crew Escape System, are underway,” ISRO said.

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,” ISRO said.

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

ISRO said the Crew Escape System with Crew Module 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 (Crew Escape System) and deployment of the series of parachutes, finally culminating in the safe touchdown of CM (Crew Module) in the sea, about 10 km from the coast of Sriharikota,” ISRO said.

The Crew Module will house the astronauts in a pressurised earthlike atmospheric condition during the Gaganyaan mission.

It is in different stages of development.

For the 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 Crew Module version has to have an overall size and mass of actual Gaganyaan Crew Module and would house all the systems for the deceleration and recovery.

With its complete set of parachutes, recovery aids, actuation systems and pyros.

The avionics systems in Crew Module are in a dual redundant mode configuration for navigation, sequencing, telemetry, instrumentation and power.

According to ISRO, the Crew Module in this mission is extensively instrumented to capture the flight data for evaluation of the performance of various systems.

It will be recovered after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal, using a dedicated vessel and diving team from the Indian Navy.

The space agency said the Crew Module after integration underwent various electrical testing, at ISRO’s facility in Bengaluru, including an acoustic test and was dispatched to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on August 13.

At Sriharikota, 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 Crew Module is a significant milestone for the overall Gaganyaan programme as 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, ISRO said.

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Gaganyaan’s first abort mission with test rocket in May 2023

Gaganyaan's first abort mission with test rocket in May 2023

According to him, the total expenditure incurred for Gaganyaan programme as on 30th October 2022 is Rs 3,040 crore…reports Asian Lite News

The first of the four abort missions using test vehicles or test rockets for India’s human space mission – Gaganyaan- is planned in May 2023, the Parliament was told on Wednesday.

“The first test vehicle mission, TV-D1, is planned in May 2023, followed by the second test vehicle TV-D2 mission and first uncrewed mission of Gaganyaan (LVM3-G1) in the first quarter of 2024,” Science and Technology Minister Dr Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question about the status of the human space mission.

“The second series of test vehicle missions (TV-D3& D4) and LVM3-G2 mission with robotic payload is planned next. The crewed mission is planned by end of 2024 based on the outcome of the successful test vehicle and uncrewed missions,” he said.

According to him, the total expenditure incurred for Gaganyaan programme as on 30th October 2022 is Rs 3,040 crore.

On the current status of the Gaganyaan project, Singh said: “All the design activities are completed, proto models testing commenced for all systems. Manufacturing of all the systems have been initiated and in progress.”

He said the Human rated Launch vehicle systems (HLVM3) are tested and qualified. All propulsion systems tests for higher margins completed. The Test Vehicle TV-D1 mission for demonstration of crew escape system designed, and stage for first flight realised. The Crew Module structure for TV-D1 mission is delivered. Static tests of all Crew Escape System motors have been completed. Batch testing is in progress.

He also said the first semester of Astronauts training has been completed. Crew evaluation and assessment activities have also been completed.

“Orbital module for uncrewed G1 (Gaganyaan 1) mission realisation in progress. For qualification of Parachutes and pyros through Ground and Air drop tests underway.A Recovery trials of crew module from sea commenced at Water Survival Test Facility (WSTF), Indian Navy, Kochi,” Singh said.

Agreeing that the target for launching first crewed mission of Gaganyaan was 2022 Singh said the delay was due to Covid-19 lockdowns, disruptions in raw material supply chain from foreign sources, and delays in hardware realisation from industries and hence the schedule is modified.

“Moreover, Gaganyaan Advisory Council has recommended testing of Crew Escape System and deceleration systems through four abort missions using Test Vehicle (TV) and Integrated Air Drop Tests before proceeding with crewed missions. This is in addition to the two uncrewed missions planned earlier,” Singh said.

ALSO READ-‘Gaganyaan showcasing India’s ambitious space expedition

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‘Gaganyaan showcasing India’s ambitious space expedition

It also educates us on the importance of a spacesuit, the making of the indigenous launch vehicle, and the technologies that the makers have to master in case it needs to succeed in the dangerous or complex mission as Gaganyaan…reports Troy Rebeiro

‘Gaganyaan: Bharat Ki Antariksh Udaan’ (streaming on discovery+), Duration: 47 minutes, Director: Pria Somiah, Cast: Rakesh Sharma, Air Cmdr (Rtd) Ravish Malhotra, Chethan Kumar, Dr K. Radhakrishnan, Dr S. Somanath, Dimitry Loskutor, Sunita Williams, Raj Chengappa, Dr Bridgette Godard (Rating: ***)

This 47-minute documentary, streaming on discovery+, showcases India’s ambitious odyssey of sending Indian astronauts into space in an Indian spacecraft by 2023.

The film begins with narrator Rahul Mulani telling us who was the first person who went into space in 1961 and ever since then over 500 astronauts from 41 countries have gone into space and that today, only USA, Russia, and China can launch crewed spacecraft.

He further tells us that now India is set to join this very exclusive club, thereby ushering in a new era in history, making India a major space superpower.

The documentary dissects the extremely complex and dangerous mission through the viewpoints of three astronauts – Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, Sunita Williams, a NASA astronaut, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov.

With a vast range of talking heads, the narrative elaborates about the qualities required to be an astronaut, the number of astronauts that will be finally selected for the mission, and about Vyommitra, the female-looking spacefaring humanoid robot developed by ISRO who would accompany the human astronauts in space.

It also educates us on the importance of a spacesuit, the making of the indigenous launch vehicle, and the technologies that the makers have to master in case it needs to succeed in the dangerous or complex mission as Gaganyaan.

Narrated in a non-linear manner, the film charts the one-and-a-half-decade-long audacious and challenging journey of India’s human flight programme from developing its state-of-the-art cryogenic engine, testing of flights, and rigorous astronaut training to the final preparations and anticipation before its launch.

The telling is supported with archival footage, modern graphical representations of the complex processes, and bytes from eminent personalities from the space fields, who include Dr K Radhakrishnan – Former Chairman of ISRO, Dr S. Somanath – Former Director of VSSO and current Chairman of ISRO, Retired Air Commodore Ravish Malhotra who was the former Test Pilot of the Indian Air Force, Dimitry Loskutor, Director General of Glavkosmos, and Dr Bridgette Godard, Flight Surgeon from European Astronaut Center.

The film’s emotional power does not come from the visuals that document the subject but from the spoken words of Raj Chengappa, the Group Editorial Director of a publishing house, and Chethan Kumar, Assistant Editor – Space, Science & Defence of another publication. Glowing with grandiose pronouncements and uplifting sentiments, they speak with so much conviction and authority that you feel proud and motivated with patriotic fervour.

Overall, the film achieves its goal of edutainment.

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