SRIHARIKOTA: ISRO Chairman S Somanath said the first test flight of the Gaganyaan project is expected to happen this December. Official sources said the mock-up trial of cryogenic stage (C32) would be conducted as early as the end of August.
Somanath said, “We are currently working on the first mission of Gaganyaan, called G1, which is an unmanned mission. The rocket stages, including the S200, L1 and C32, are all at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. We need to complete the wiring and testing.
Our target is to have the entire system ready by November, with a possible launch in December.” The top official said the integration of the crew module was taking place at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, and the Crew Escape hardware was ready.
Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR director A Rajarajan told TNIE that the mock-up of the C32 cryo stage would be conducted later this month. It is an important event before going ahead with the first test flight, as it will validate different data sets, including all important propellant filling. The C32 is an upgrade of the C20 cryogenic stage that the ISRO has indigenously developed for human rated launch vehicles.
The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human spaceflight by launching a three-member crew into an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission and bringing them safely back to Earth. The prerequisites for the Gaganyaan mission include the development of critical technologies including the human rated launch vehicle, the life-support system to provide an earth-like atmosphere for the crew in space, crew emergency escape provision and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation, mentioned the ISRO website.