Space Science: ISRO's Manned Mission - Gaganyaan

Dr. Prasun Halder

Afer the successful and historic sof landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the south pole of moon, the Indian Space Research Organisaton (ISRO) is now preparing to take a giant leap in the space technology as it is planning for India’s maiden human spaceﬂight mission namely ‘Gaganyaan’. The program aims to send a three-member crew to the Lower Earth Orbit of 400 km for a 3-day mission and bring them back safely to earth, by landing in the Bay of Bengal. This ambitous mission will be accomplished through the indigenous expertse and experience of various concerned industries, the intellectual capacites of Indian academia and premiere research organisatons, and the state-of-the-art
technologies of some internatonal agencies.

The ‘Gaganyaan’ is a complex mission as it involves the planning, development, and executon of some critcal and cutng-edge technologies such as human-rated launch vehicle to safely carry the crews to space, Life Support System to provide a habitable earth like environment in the crew module, crew emergency escape system, crew management actvites etc. Some important demonstrator missions like Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT), Test Vehicle (TV) ﬂights etc. have also been planned by ISRO before the actual mission starts. Moreover, a humanoid female-robot called ‘Vyommitra’ is being developed by ISRO who will be a part of the preliminary uncrewed ‘Gaganyaan’
mission for the microgravity experiments, monitoring the essental module parameters, and also assist the selected astronauts in the original crewed mission by simulatng human-like functons.
By now, this all-important ₹12,500 crore ISRO mission has already completed its frst phase as Gaganyaan’s frst Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1) was accomplished nicely and the Crew Escape System was performed successfully on 21st October, 2023. On the other hand, the primarily selected astronauts are being trained at the training facility, commissioned in Bengaluru.
This inspiratonal manned mission will help India to stand at per with Russia, United States and China regarding the launch of their own crewed spacecrafs. Additonally, it will help in the enhancement of science and technology levels in the country, industrial growth, and internatonal collaboratons.

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Jammu