Gaganyaan’s 1st abort mission to be done in August-end
According to the ISRO chairman, the first abort mission of ‘Gaganyaan’ will be conducted by the end of August.
Abort missions test systems that allow the crew to be safely ejected from the spacecraft mid-flight in the event of a mission failure.
In the year 2018, ISRO had already conducted a pad abort test. The test was carried out to safely evacuate the crew from the spacecraft in case of an emergency on the launch pad.
ISRO has developed dedicated test vehicles for abort missions. These send the vehicle systems up to a certain altitude.
Under this, the process of safe evacuation of astronauts (escape system) is tested by creating failure conditions.
Gaganyaan’s escape system is designed with five hyperactive solid fuel motors, high burn rate propulsion system, and fins to ensure stability. This system separates from the crew module.
The Gaganyaan mission aims to demonstrate indigenous capability for manned space flight mission in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 400 km. Under this, the government has approved two unmanned missions and one manned mission.
LVM3 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-III) has been developed as the launch vehicle for the Gaganyaan mission. It includes solid phase, liquid phase and cryogenic phase. So far only the US, Russia and China have been successful in sending manned missions to outer space.
Source – The Hindu
