BENGALURU, Sept 15: The first test vehicle mission of India’s ambitious maiden human spaceflight
venture Gaganyaan to validate the crew escape system will be launched in a month or two, a key
ISRO official said on Friday.
According to officials of the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency, it would be the first of
the four abort missions of the Gaganyaan programme.
The first test vehicle mission, TV-D1, would be followed by the second test vehicle TV-D2 mission
and first uncrewed mission of Gaganyaan (LVM3-G1).
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 based on the outcome of the successful test vehicle
and uncrewed missions, they said.
“…immediately what we are now targeting is to validate the crew escape system. In a month or two,
the mission will take place from Sriharikota,” Gaganyaan Project Director R Hutton said at an
international space conference here.
According to ISRO officials, the Gaganyaan project is aimed at demonstrating India’s capability of
taking a crew of two to three members to a circular orbit of about 400 km around the Earth for a
one-to-three-day mission and bring them back safely to Earth, by landing in a designated location in
Indian sea waters.
LVM3 rocket, the heavy lift launcher of ISRO, is identified as the launch vehicle for the Gaganyaan
mission. It consists of a solid stage, a liquid stage and a cryogenic stage. All systems in LVM3 are re-
configured to meet human rating requirements and christened Human Rated LVM3 (HLVM3).
“I am glad to say that the LVM3 has been human-rated. When we say human-rated, it should have
adequate safety margins,” Hutton told the conference, which was organised by the Confederation of
Indian Industry.
HLVM3 consists of a Crew Escape System (CES) powered by a set of quick acting, high-burn-rate solid
motors which ensure that the Crew Module (CM) along with crew is taken to a safe distance in case
of any emergency either at the launch pad or during the ascent phase.
The Orbital Module (OM) that will be orbiting Earth comprises the Crew Module and the Service
Module (SM). OM is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics systems with adequate redundancy
considering human safety.
CM is the habitable space with Earth-like environment in space for the crew. It is of double-walled
construction consisting of pressurised metallic inner structure and unpressurised external structure
with thermal protection system.
It houses the crew interfaces, human centric products, life support system, avionics and deceleration
systems. It is also designed for re-entry to ensure safety of the crew during descent till touchdown.
SM will be used for providing necessary support to CM while in orbit. It is an unpressurised structure
containing thermal system, propulsion system, power systems, avionics systems and deployment
mechanisms. (PTI)
