Preparations for ‘Mission Gaganyaan’ in full swing

BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to ensure the safety of astronauts, as part of its roadmap for the country’s first manned flight to space ‘Gaganyaan’ in 2024, will cancel two unmanned ‘unmanned aerial vehicles’ in the upcoming September and again in December. Will conduct ‘Abhiyan’ ie ‘Abort Mission’. ISRO will ‘simulate failure’ through both of these ‘abort missions’. That is, ISRO will practice 2 times to prepare how to protect the astronauts if the mission fails. ISRO Chairman S Somnath informed The Indian Express about this.

S Somnath, who is ISRO Chief as well as Secretary, Department of Space, said, “Human safety is our first priority. So, now we are focusing on aborted missions – simulating failures and practicing how to keep the crew safe in those situations. The first test vehicle for this purpose is ready and we will launch it in September this year. The manned capsule will be sent 15 km up, we will simulate an aborted mission and then the capsule will be brought down safely into the sea by parachute. The second test vehicle will be launched in December this year. It will be sent to a higher altitude, then brought back after similar simulation.

ISRO wants to be absolutely sure about the safety of the mission
S Somnath said, ‘We are deliberately delaying the manned mission because it is a very dangerous mission. If this is not successful, the entire project may have to be closed. So, we have to be extremely precise and absolutely sure. Because a failed mission will have a very bad effect on the system as well as ISRO. .

“More and more human activity is likely to move into space in the coming decades,” he said. For example, 3D printing of organs is emerging as one of the biggest areas that will move into space in the future. Because zero-gravity is the perfect condition for the organs to grow.’ Last week, ISRO launched the HS 200 rocket booster at Sriharikota as part of the first stage of Gaganyaan. The HS200 booster, which was 20 meters long with 3.2 meters in diameter, was loaded with 203 tons of solid propellant and tested for a 135-second duration.

India’s ‘Gaganyaan mission’ delayed due to corona epidemic
The Gaganyaan mission, which will take 3 Indians into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), had to be pushed forward due to the pandemic. This mission was to be launched this year on completion of 75 years of India’s independence. According to ISRO, the Rs 9,023 crore Gaganyaan program “will lay the foundation for a sustainable Indian human space exploration program in the long run.” ISRO Chief S Somnath said that the Gaganyaan mission has been adversely affected due to the Kovid pandemic. Production of various systems was affected and restarting takes time. We have lost one and a half year due to Kovid. Europe was severely affected by the pandemic, disrupting production and supply chains. We had to get electronics and computer chips from these countries and many other things. There was also a restriction on spending due to Kovid.