Uncrewed Mission Of GAGANYAAN Planned for December
Officials said 1st first and 2nd waves of Covid have “severely affected” Gaganyaan program
The Indian Space Research Organisation is going full steam to launch the first uncrewed mission in December, as part of the human spaceflight programme ”Gaganyaan”. The adverse impact of the COVID-19-induced lockdowns had disrupted hardware delivery schedules but now things are under control.
As part of the mandate of Gaganyaan, two uncrewed flights are planned to be tested to see the end-to-end capacity for the manned mission.
Hardware elements for the mission is fabricated by the industry, and lockdowns in different parts of the country at different period have adversely impacted delivery schedules.
“Design, analysis and documentation are done by ISRO while hardware for Gaganyaan is fabricated and supplied by hundreds of industries across the country”,said an ISRO official.
The objective of the Gaganyaan program is to demonstrate the capability to send humans to low earth orbit on board an Indian launch vehicle and bring them back to earth safely.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Space, Jitendra Singh said in February this year that the first unmanned mission is planned in December 2021 and the second unmanned one in 2022-23, followed by the human spaceflight demonstration.
Four Indian astronaut-candidates have already undergone generic space flight training in Russia as part of the Gaganyaan program.
ISRO’s heavy-lift launcher GSLV MK-III has been identified for the mission.
Formal announcement of the Gaganyaan program was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address on August 15, 2018. The initial target was to launch the human spaceflight before the 75th anniversary of India’s independence on August 15, 2022.
“Most of our industry (that supplied hardware for the program) were closed (due to COVID-induced lockdowns)”, an ISRO official said.
“There was an impact on realisation of hardware systems. We expect some delay”.
Another official of the space agency said ISRO is trying to meet the target by putting in “extra hours, extra work.”
ISRO sources said most of the activities relating to the Gaganyaan program are over, noting that the space agency was working on the project even a decade before the formal announcement was made nearly three years ago.
ISRO is also taking the help of French, Russian and US space agencies in “some of the crucial activities and supply of components”, sources said.
“That way, we are not going to lose much time. But mainly because of closure industries in India, it’s having an impact on realisation of hardware. But still we are trying to achieve the target for the mission set by the Government of India”, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said earlier this month.
