Mohammad Hanief
India’s extraordinary ascent continues with landmark achievements in space exploration. From the successful Gaganyaan test flight to sending a module into outer space and back to Earth, India’s space agency, ISRO, has set the stage for ambitious endeavors. Following the historic landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar South Pole and the launch of the Aditya-L1 solar observation mission, India now prepares diligently for its manned space mission, Gaganyaan.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi introducing the four Gaganyaan astronauts, India gears up for its maiden human spaceflight, aiming to develop a capsule capable of carrying a crew of three into orbit for three days before safely returning to Earth. The mission, a crucial step towards sustained human presence in space, requires meticulous planning and cutting-edge technologies, including a human-rated launch vehicle, life support systems, Earth-like habitats, and emergency escape mechanisms. With a specialized astronaut training facility in Bengaluru and a dedicated team of pilots, India is on course to join the elite club of nations with human spaceflight capabilities.
The space agency is in full swing to achieve another milestone in its space endeavours, with the launch of the Gaganyaan mission, slated for launch in 2024. The preparation for India’s first manned mission has been going on for years, with the mission’s preliminary studies starting back in 2006.
For the first crewed mission of the Gaganyaan programme, astronaut trainees are selected from a pool of test pilots, based on selection criteria jointly defined by ISRO and the Indian Air Force which comprises flying experience, fitness, psychological and aeromedical evaluation (including anthropometric parameters). The Gaganyaan programme envisages undertaking the demonstration of human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in the short term and will lay the foundation for a sustained Indian human space exploration programme in the long run.
The objective of the Gaganyaan programme is to demonstrate the indigenous capability to undertake human space flight missions to LEO. As part of this programme, two unmanned missions and one manned mission are approved by the Government of India, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation.
The Gaganyaan, literally meaning ‘celestial vehicle’ will carry four people to an orbit of 400 km on a 3-day mission and bring them back safely to Earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram
On February 27, and announced the names of four Indian astronauts chosen for this unique mission. Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla are selected for the manned Gaganyaan mission.
PM Modi conferred the ‘astronaut wings’ upon the designated astronauts. He also gave a standing ovation to the four astronauts and said, “We are witnessing another historic journey at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. India meets its four Gaganyaan astronauts. These are not just four names, but forces that will take the aspirations of 140 crore Indians to space.”
All four Indian Air Force officers have had extensive experience as test pilots and are currently in training for the mission. Modi, who bestowed them with the prestigious astronaut wings, described them as “four forces” who represent the aspirations and optimism of 1.4 billion Indians.
The announcement was made at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thumba, Kerala, days after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it had successfully tested the human readiness of the cryogenic engine that will be used on the Gaganyaan mission vehicles.
To train astronauts for the manned mission, ISRO set up an Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru which includes classroom training, physical fitness training, simulator training and flight suit training. Training modules cover academic courses, Gaganyaan Flight Systems, Micro-gravity familiarization through Parabolic Flights, Aero-medical training, Recovery & Survival training, mastering of Flight Procedures and training on Crew Training Simulators. Aeromedical training, Periodical flying practice and Yoga are also included as part of the training.
Apart from this, the Indian Air Force has also been working closely with ISRO on the Gaganyaan mission. In the past, the IAF also teased a fitness training video of the four IAF pilots selected for the Gaganyaan mission.
The projects comprise the PSLV Integration Facility (PIF) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, the new ‘Semi-cryogenics Integrated Engine and Stage Test Facility’ at the ISRO Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri, and the ‘Trisonic Wind Tunnel’ at VSSC in Thiruvananthapuram. These endeavors, collectively costing approximately Rs. 1800 crore, offer cutting-edge technical infrastructure for the space sector.
The PSLV Integration Facility (PIF) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, is expected to enhance the frequency of PSLV launches from 6 to 15 per year. Moreover, this advanced facility is capable of supporting launches for SSLV and other small launch vehicles developed by private space enterprises.
The ISRO’s heavy lift launcher, the LVM rocket, has been identified as the launch vehicle to be used during the Gaganyaan missions. Comprising a solid, a liquid and a cryogenic stage, these systems can be configured to ferry humans into space.
The special flight engine, to be used for Gaganyaan missions too, has completed the acceptance tests. Powering the upper stages of the LVM3, the flight engine boasts of a thrust capacity of 19 to 22 tonne with an impulse of 442.5 seconds.
The development of a human-rate launch vehicle is a part of the several tests and technology development efforts required for the proposed human-space flight mission.
Other technological developments like development of life support systems to provide an earth like environment to crew in space, crew emergency escape provision, evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation of crew are planned.
Besides, precursor missions are being planned which will demonstrate the technology preparedness levels before the actual manned Gaganyaan mission.
Work for the development of the HLVM, consisting of the Crew Escape System, is presently underway. This is part of the Crew Module, being designed to ensure that the crew remains safe all throughout the journey. Besides, the design is flexible to provide a quick crew escape, in case of any untoward development both during the launch or descent phases.
Indian Space Research Organisation has been carrying out a number of tests to prepare for the flight. In October, a key test demonstrated that the crew could safely escape the rocket in case it malfunctioned. After its success, Isro said a test flight would take a robot into space in 2024, before astronauts are sent into space in 2025.
Gaganyaan has generated a lot of interest in India, although it’s coming decades after Soviet Union and the US started making trips to the low Earth orbit. Both have been in space since 1961. China became the third country to reach space in October 2003 when a Chinese mission spent 21 hours and orbited Earth 14 times. And the US and China have fully operational space stations in low Earth orbit.
An Indian astronaut also went to space as early as in 1984 when Rakesh Sharma spent nearly eight days on a Russian spacecraft. Last year, India made major forays into space. The country made history by becoming the first to land near the Moon’s South Pole in August 2023. Just weeks later, scientists launched Aditya-L1, India’s first observation mission to the Sun which is now in orbit, keeping an eye on our solar system’s most important and volatile star.
India has also announced ambitious new plans for space, saying it would aim to set up a space station by 2035 and send an astronaut to the Moon by 2040.
Precursor missions such as Gaganyaan-1 will demonstrate the levels of technology preparedness before the manned mission. The unmanned mission will carry an unpressurised crew module – the capsule in which the astronauts will be seated during the human flight – to space and back.