KOCHI: While the four astronauts selected for India’s inaugural human space flight programme undergo rigorous training to reignite India’s space odyssey, a team in Kochi is waiting anxiously for the proud moment when Indian dreams soar into space.
While the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) are pioneering the space flight, the Indian Navy has shouldered the responsibility of recovering the crew module from the Indian Ocean on its return to earth after the three-day mission. The water survival training facility (WSTF) at INS Garuda in Kochi will be training the astronauts on survival after landing in the sea.
The Navy is the lead service responsible for the crew’s recovery from the sea. The module is expected to land in the Indian Ocean and the Navy will be positioning its vessels in the region. The ISRO has marked the waters for landing with 48 backup spots.
After landing, an astronaut can open the module’s hatch and jump into the water. He can inflate the personal safety pack and sit in it while awaiting the recovery team’s arrival.
“This is our first attempt. The Navy, in coordination with ISRO scientists, has prepared a standard operating procedure on recovering the crew. The recovery team has been trained to ensure safe extraction of the astronauts even in harsh weather conditions,” said Captain Shinodh Karthikeyan, officer in charge of WSTF.
Established in August 2013, the WSTF is the third comprehensive facility in the world, imparting lessons of survival at sea for aircrew. The facility features the survival training simulation theatre (STST), which helps simulate environmental conditions of day/night, rain, winds up to 40 knots, wave of more than 1.5 m height along with thunder and lightning effects. Its insignia is the ‘matsya’ avatar of Lord Vishnu.
The key components include the helicopter underwater egress trainer, cockpit underwater egress trainer, parachute drop trainer, parachute drag and disentanglement trainer, rescue hoist trainer and environmental simulation equipment. Designed for rigorous survival exercises, the WSTF has trained more than 4500 aircrew of Navy, Air Force and Army to survive a range of challenging scenarios at sea.
“We train aircrew to survive in rough sea conditions. Their safety is of paramount importance. Naval aircraft fly low over the sea as our job is to search for a target, life or a capsized boat in the vast sea. We have to train the aircrew on how to come out of the aircraft and survive in case of ditching at sea. The facility provides a real time experience and removes fear from the aircrew’s mind,” explained Captain Shinodh.
“We brought people from Canada to train our divers in underwater egress drills and later launched our own instructor course to create a pool of expert instructors. The training programme started in 2015 and the facility has been gradually increasing its output to now train more than 600 aircrew a year. Now the Indian Air Force, Indian Army and five friendly countries have also joined. In 10 years, around 4,500+ aircrew have undergone training at WSTF. They have to undego the same training again every two years to continue flying,” he said.
Gaganyaan mission
This is probably the first time the astronauts will be lying down in a space module. In the spacecraft used by NASA, the astronaut is launched in a sitting position.
The rocket with the astronauts will ascend to 400 km in 13 minutes. As the rocket fires, the crew in the module will get compressed due to the earth’s gravitational force (g-force). The astronauts will be in the space for three days and the module will orbit the earth 16 times a day. On the third day after the 16th orbiting, the module will return to earth. The astronaut may experience g-force of over 3G during normal procedures; it may go up to 16G. Hence, ISRO has decided to launch the astronauts lying down to reduce the impact of the g-force.
Also, learning lessons from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in which NASA lost seven astronauts, including Kalpana Chawla, the ISRO has successfully tested the crew escape system. In case of failure of launch vehicle, the system will quickly activate to take away the crew module from the vehicle.
There will be three unmanned launches of Gaganyaan. The ISRO will send a female humanoid robot Vyommitra on the mission in 2025. The ISRO will analyse the robot to understand the physiological changes it undergoes during space flight. The human space flight is expected to take place in 2026. Though four astronauts have been selected for it, it is ISRO’s call to decide on the final number. The space module can carry three astronauts. Wing Commander Subhanshu Shukla has been selected to pilot the Axiom Mission 4 to visit the International Space Station. Shukla and his backup Group Captain Prashanth Nair, both test pilots of the Air Force, have joined training with the international crew for the mission.