Bengaluru: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday said the first unmanned flight test for its human spaceflight mission Gaganyaan will be held on October 21, between 7 am and 9 am.
The Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1) has been scheduled from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on a single-stage liquid rocket. An unpressurised version of the crew module (CM) will be used for the flight.Themodule is extensively instrumented to capture the flight data for evaluation of the performance of various systems,ISRO said.
Simulated abort condition
The abort mission payloads consist of the CMand Crew Escape Systems (CES).The space agency said this flight will simulate the abort condition during the ascent trajectory. CES with CM will be separated from thetestvehicle 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,culminating in the safe touchdown oftheCM in the sea, about 10 km from the coast of Sriharikota.
ISRO said TV-D1 isa significant milestone for theGaganyaan programme as a near-complete system is integrated for a flight test.Its success will set the stage for the remaining qualification tests and unmanned flights in the run-up to the Gaganyaan mission with Indian astronauts.
During the Gaganyaan mission, the astronauts will be carriedon a CM in a pressurised, earth-like condition.With Gaganyaan, ISRO plans to launch a three-member crew to an orbit of 400 km, for a three-day mission.
Theunpressurisedversion of the CM used in TV-D1 will have an overall size and weight matching the actual Gaganyaan CM. It comes with all deceleration and recoverysystems and the complete set of parachutesand recovery aids.On touchdown, the CM will be recoveredin the Bay of Bengal, using a dedicated vessel andan Indian Navydiving team.
(Published 16 October 2023, 14:27 IST)