Gaganyaan: India’s Ambitious Space Mission to the Stars

Gaganyaan: HSFC’s primary responsibility is to spearhead ISRO’s Gaganyaan programme through coordinated efforts and to direct all activities conducted out by other ISRO centres, research labs in India, and Indian academia and industry towards the mission’s completion. As the lead Centre for Human space flight activities, HSFC adheres to high standards of reliability and human safety when conducting research and development in novel technology areas, such as life support systems, Human Factors Engineering, Bioastronautics, Crew training, and Human rating & certification. These regions would be essential for future sustained human space flight activities such as rendezvous and docking, space station construction, and interplanetary collaborative piloted missions to the Moon/Mars and asteroids close to Earth.

The Gaganyaan

The Gaganyaan project intends to demonstrate human spaceflight capability by launching a three-person crew to an orbit of 400 kilometres for a three-day mission and returning them safely to Earth by landing in the Indian Ocean.

The project is completed using an optimal strategy that takes into account in-house expertise, the experience of Indian industry, the intellectual capabilities of Indian academia and research institutions, and cutting-edge technologies offered by international agencies. The prerequisites for the Gaganyaan mission include the development of numerous critical technologies, such as a human-rated launch vehicle for safely transporting crew to space, a Life Support System to provide an earth-like environment to crew in space, a crew emergency escape provision, and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery, and rehabilitation of crew.

Prior to the actual Human Space Flight mission, numerous precursor missions are intended to demonstrate the Technology Readiness Levels. Included in these demonstrator missions are the Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT), the Pad Abort Test (PAT), and the Test Vehicle (TV) flights. All systems’ safety and dependability will be demonstrated in unmanned missions prior to piloted missions.

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Human rated LVM3 – HLVM3 as superior

ISRO’s well-proven and dependable heavy-lift launcher, the LVM3 rocket, has been designated as the launch vehicle for the Gaganyaan mission. It includes a solid phase, a liquid phase, and a cryogenic phase. Human Rated LVM3 is a launch vehicle whose systems have been reconfigured to meet human rating requirements. The HLVM3 will be able to launch the Orbital Module into a 400 km Low Earth Orbit.

HLVM3 consists of a Crew Escape System (CES) powered by a set of fast-acting, high-burn-rate solid motors, which ensures that the Crew Module and crew are transported to a secure distance in the event of an emergency on the launch pad or during ascent.

Spacecraft Module

Earth-orbiting Orbital Module (OM) consists of Crew Module (CM) and Service Module (SM). OM has state-of-the-art avionics systems with sufficient redundancy for human safety.

CM is the crew’s habitable location in space with an environment similar to Earth. It is a double-walled structure comprised of a pressurised metal inner structure and an unpressurized outer structure with a Thermal Protection System (TPS). It contains the personnel interfaces, human-centric products, life support, avionics, and deceleration systems. It is also designed for re-entry to ensure the crew’s safety during descent and landing.

SM will provide necessary support to CM while it is in orbit. It is a non-pressurized structure with thermal, propulsion, electrical, avionics, and deployment mechanisms.

Developing new technologies for Gaganyaan

Gaganyaan places the utmost importance on human safety. To ensure this, a variety of new technologies, including engineering systems and human-centered systems, are being developed and implemented.

Training for the Gaganyaan crew

The Bengaluru-based Astronaut Training Facility provides Classroom training, Physical Fitness training, simulator training, and flight suit training. The training modules consist of academic courses, Gaganyaan Flight Systems, familiarisation with microgravity via parabolic flights, aero-medical training, recovery and survival training, mastery of flight procedures, and training on crew training simulators. Yoga, Aero medical training, and Periodic flight practise are also included in the training.