Navy, ISRO Release Training Plan For Gaganyaan Crew
Context:
The Indian Navy and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released the Gaganyaan Recovery Training Plan at the Water Survival Training Facility (WSTF) at INS Garuda, Kochi, marking a significant step towards fulfilling India’s ambitious Gaganyaan mission to send an Indian into space.
Mission Gaganyaan
- The crewed spacecraft called Gaganyaan is being created by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- In 2023, Gaganyaan will do its second unmanned test flight, and in 2024, it will conduct its first crewed test flight. The dates you provided, though, seem to be off.
- India will follow the United States, China, and the Soviet Union/Russia as the fourth nation to launch a crewed spacecraft.
- The crew module (CM) and the service module (SM) are the two separate modules that make up the Gaganyaan spacecraft. The orbital module is made up of these two parts.
- Up to three astronauts can fit in the crew module (CM), which has the shape of a truncated cone.
- The spacecraft’s propulsion and power systems are housed in the service module (SM), which is positioned beneath the crew module during launch.
- The crew module will detach from the service module during reentry and splash into the water.
- The Human Rated Launch Vehicle (HRLV), a modified version of India’s potent rocket, the Launch Vehicle Mark III (LVM3), will send the Gaganyaan spacecraft into orbit.
- The Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, will serve as the launch location for Gaganyaan.
- The Indian crewed spacecraft’s development work got under way in 2012. The LVM3’s inaugural flight, which safely splashed down in the Bay of Bengal on a suborbital trajectory in December 2014, included a crew module mockup.
- For the crewed space programme, four Indian Air Force pilots were chosen, and they underwent training at the ISRO astronaut training facility in Bengaluru, India, and in Russia.
- Gaganyaan’s first crewed flight was supposed to take place in 2022, but the global coronavirus epidemic has caused a delay.
- The second unmanned test voyage will be carried out by the humanoid robot Vyommitra. It has the ability to read the spacecraft’s instrument panels and communicate with ground controllers.
- Three astronauts will board Gaganyaan’s first crewed voyage, where they’ll stay in low Earth orbit for up to a week.
Points to Ponder:
- Gaganyaan Recovery Training Plan: The Indian Navy and ISRO released the Gaganyaan Recovery Training Plan at the Water Survival Training Facility (WSTF) at INS Garuda in Kochi.
- Training Plan Overview: The plan outlines the training requirements for the recovery of the crew module during the mission. It covers various teams involved in recovery operations, including divers, MARCOs, medical specialists, communicators, technicians, and naval aviators.
- Incremental Phases: The recovery training will be conducted in incremental phases. It will start with unmanned recovery and progress to manned recovery training in harbor and open sea conditions.
- Leadership and conjunction: In conjunction with other participating agencies, the Indian Navy is taking the initiative in the training initiatives.
- Astronaut Training: In Bengaluru, the astronauts chosen for the Gaganyaan expedition are currently completing training tailored to their particular mission. Crew training is ongoing in its second semester.
- Evaluation and Assessment: Crew training evaluation and assessment tasks have also been finished.
- Timeline: The first human space flight mission, or “H1,” is planned to launch in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to a statement made by Minister of State in the PMO for Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh, in December 2022.
- Test Vehicle Missions: Two test vehicle missions are scheduled prior to the “H1” mission. The second uncrewed ‘G2’ mission is planned to launch in the second quarter of 2024 after the unmanned ‘G1’ mission, which is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2023. These flights are designed to show how well the crew escape system and parachute-based deceleration system perform in a variety of flying scenarios.
