Gaganyaan Mission: India’s Bold Venture into Human Spaceflight

The Gaganyaan project by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) aims to demonstrate the feasibility of human spaceflight by sending a crew of 3 people into a 400 km orbit for a 3-day mission and returning them safely to land in Indian sea waters. The cost of the overall project is ~₹9,023.00 crore. The project is carried out using the best possible strategy, considering internal expertise, industrial experience, academic and research institutions’ intellectual capacity, and cutting-edge technologies offered by foreign organisations. 

The Gaganyaan mission depends on developing a number of vital technologies, such as a human-rated launch vehicle that can safely transport the crew to space. The pre-requisite of the mission also includes a life support system that can provide an environment similar to Earth for the crew. The Gaganyaan project is one of the prominent projects that comes under the umbrella of the Indian Space sector.

Overview of the Indian Space Sector

During 2020, the Indian Space Sector was valued at $9.6 bn, which contributes ~2%-3% of the global space economy. By 2025, the sector’s size is expected to reach $13 bn, and by 2030, India aims to capture a larger share of close to 10% of the global economy.

Over 400 industrial companies, including large Indian conglomerates and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are currently engaged in the industry to create the ground infrastructure and launch subsystems.

NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) currently serves as the sole public-sector aggregator for the supply and demand of commercially available space assets and services. This includes providing satellite-based applications and manufacturing and launching PSLV and other launch vehicles with the help of private players. For the upcoming 5 years, NSIL has announced a total investment of $1.2 bn to increase industry involvement and commercial activities in the sector.

Launcher of Gaganyaan (Human Rated LVM3 – HLVM3)

LVM3 is the launch vehicle for the Gaganyaan mission. This rocket is a well-proven and reliable heavy-lift launcher of ISRO, consisting of solid, liquid, and cryogenic stagese.

The LVM3 launch vehicle’s systems have all been upgraded to comply with human rating standards, earning it the moniker Human Rated LVM3. HLVM3 can launch the orbital module to the desired 400 km low earth orbit. Orbital Module (OM) comprises of Crew Module (CM) and Service Module (SM). Modern avionics systems with sufficient redundancy for human safety are installed on OM.

New Technologies For Gaganyaan

The Gaganyaan mission places a high priority on maintaining human safety. Different new technologies, including engineering systems and human-centric systems, are being created and realised to ensure the same.

Crew Training for Gaganyaan

Astronauts are getting trained at the Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru, which caters to classroom training, physical fitness training, simulator training and flight suit training. 

Training modules cover academic courses, Gaganyaan Flight Systems, micro-gravity familiarisation through Parabolic Flights, and Aero-medical training. The training part also covers Recovery and Survival training, Mastering of Flight Procedures and Crew Training Simulators, Periodic flying practice and Yoga.

Updates on Gaganyaan Mission

ISRO will initiate the Gaganyaan mission by launching the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission 1 (TV-D1) as a first step to test the performance of the Crew Escape System on the crew module of the Gaganyaan mission on October 21, 2023.

TV-D1 will test the safety mechanism that will allow the crew of the Gaganyaan mission to escape the spacecraft in case the mission is aborted due to a malfunction.

Conclusion

The Gaganyaan programme has an objective to demonstrate the indigenous capability to undertake human space flight missions to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). In addition, the mission is likely to progress towards a sustained and affordable human and robotic programme to explore the solar system and beyond.