Gaganyaan
Why in news:
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), along with the Indian Navy, has conducted an important trial for the Gaganyaan, human space flight mission.
- On Tuesday, they carried out initial recovery trials of the Crew Module in the Navy’s Water Survival Test Facility (WSTF) in Kochi.
More about Gaganyaan Mission:
- It is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme.
- The project envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching crew of 3 members to an orbit of 400 km for a 5 to 7 days mission and bring them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.
- 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.
Launch vehicle:
- LVM3 rocket (The Launch Vehicle Mark-3 aka GSLV Mk3) – The well proven and reliable heavy lift launcher of ISRO, is identified as the launch vehicle for Gaganyaan mission.
- It consists of solid stage, liquid stage and cryogenic stage.
- HLVM3 consists of Crew Escape System (CES) powered by a set of quick acting, high burn rate solid motors which ensures that Crew Module along with crew is taken to a safe distance in case of any emergency either at launch pad or during ascent phase.
Syllabus: Prelims + Mains; GS3 – Science and Technology
