India Prepares for First Crewed Space Mission: Crew Escape System Test | ISRO

India Prepares for First Crewed Space Mission: Crew Escape System Test | ISRO

For the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Gaganyaan TV-D1 mission, a liquid-propelled single stage test vehicle launched a Gaganyaan Crew Module (CM) for an in-flight abort demonstration of the Crew Escape System (CES), on Oct. 21, 2023, at 04:30 UTC (10:00 IST). 

This test vehicle mission with this crew module (CM) is a significant milestone for India's overall Gaganyaan crewed spaceflight program. It represents a near-complete system integrated for a flight test. This successful test flight sets the stage for the remaining qualification tests and uncrewed missions, leading to the first Gaganyaan mission with Indian astronauts.

The CM is where astronauts would be contained in a pressurized earthlike atmospheric condition during the upcoming Gaganyaan mission. However, for the Test Vehicle Abort mission-1 (TV-D1), the CM was an unpressurised version with the overall size and mass of the actual Gaganyaan CM. It houses all the systems for deceleration and recovery with its complete set of parachutes, recovery aids actuation systems and pyros. The avionics systems in the CM were in a dual redundant mode configuration for navigation, sequencing, telemetry, instrumentation and power. The Crew Module was recovered after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal, using a dedicated vessel and diving team from the Indian Navy.

The flight test vehicle (TV-D1) was a single-stage liquid rocket developed for this abort mission. The payload consisted of the crew module (CM) and crew escape systems (CES) with their fast-acting solid motors, along with CM fairing (CMF) and Interface Adapters. This flight simulated an abort condition during an ascent trajectory corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 that could be encountered in the official Gaganyaan mission.

The CES and CM separated from the test vehicle at an altitude of about 17 km. A series of parachutes deployed ending with a safe touchdown of the CM in the Bay of Bengal, about 10 km from the coast of Sriharikota.

Credit: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) 

Duration: 4 minutes, 19 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 21, 2023

#NASA #ISRO #Space #India #GaganyaanMission #TVD1 #Rocket #CrewModule #CrewEscapeSystem #CESTest #Astronauts #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceTechnology #Science #Engineering #SpaceExploration #BayOfBengal #Sriharikota #BhāratGaṇarājya #STEM #Education #HD #Video