BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is now a step closer to the launch and splashdown of astronauts on the Gaganyaan mission, having successfully conducted the Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-01) in its first attempt on Sunday, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, using a helicopter.
“The test has successfully demonstrated the objective of the end-to-end performance validation of the Parachute-Based Deceleration System (PBDS) of the crew module for Gaganyaan. It is one of the typical mission scenarios,” the ISRO team said in a release.
The PBDS test is the safe splashdown that the Gaganyatris will make when returning from space. The parachute system and a similar layout will be used in Gaganyaan, comprising four types of parachutes — two apex cover separations (ACS), two drogues, three main parachutes, and three pilots — the ISRO team said.
The test was conducted with help from experts from the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, DRDO, and Indian Coast Guard, after the second National Space Day celebrations concluded.
For the test, the simulated crew module with the parachute was released from an altitude of 3 km, from an IAF Chinook heavy-lift helicopter. The deceleration system began with the firing of the ACS mortar, which deployed the ACS parachutes, and it was followed by the separation of the apex cover. Then, the deployed ACS parachutes decelerated the apex cover and prevented it from re-contacting the descending simulated crew module.
The drogue parachutes were then deployed using the drogue mortar, which provided first-stage deceleration to the simulated crew module. which was followed by firing of three pilot mortars. They were ejected, and deployed the pilot parachutes, which then independently extracted and deployed the three main parachutes, the release explained.
The main parachutes reduced the terminal velocity of the simulated crew module to around 8 metres per second. After touchdown, the main parachutes were also released using parachute releasers. Post splashdown, the simulated crew module was then successfully recovered and ferried back aboard INS Anvesh to Chennai Port, the ISRO team added.
Extensive modelling of the crew module and the helicopter was carried out to address the dynamics of the under-slung body. The extensive trials with a dummy crew module hardware and the helicopter were carried out to validate the mission profile and related SOPs.