Gaganyaan's maiden test flight 'TV-D1' on Oct 21: ISRO Chief

ISRO Chief Dr S.Somanath confirmed that the 'TV-D1'(Test Vehicle Development Flight 1) maiden test flight, as part of the Indian astronaut programme Gaganyaan, will take place on Saturday, October 21. He said that D1 would be followed up with at least three more tests of the same nature. WION has learnt that the launch has been scheduled around 7 am on Saturday (Oct 21). Dr Somanath was speaking to reporters at the Madurai airport, Tamil Nadu.

While developing a fighter plane, it is crucial to prove the mechanism to eject the pilot(s) safely, mid-flight. Likewise, while working towards an astronaut mission, it is of utmost importance to prove the mechanism to eject the crew module(astronaut-carrying shell) to safety, when the rocket is mid-flight.

During the TV-D1 mission, the crew module(within which astronauts would be nestled, in future) and associated systems will be mounted atop a mini-rocket known as the Test vehicle. This is a liquid-fuelled mini rocket based on the L40 stage booster of the GSLV(erstwhile GSLV Mk2) rocket. Mid-flight, as the required conditions(Mach 1.2 or 1.2 times the speed of sound) are achieved, the Crew escape system and crew module would eject from the rocket, when the vehicle is at an altitude of 17 km.

Thereafter, the crew module will be carried to a higher altitude(nearly 2kms away from the rocket) and then it would use onboard parachutes to decelerate and gradually splash down in the sea, about 10kms from the coast of the spaceport in Sriharikota. After splashdown, the Crew Module will be recovered, using a dedicated vessel and diving team from the Indian Navy.

Before trucking the crew module to the spaceport in Andhra Pradesh, the Crew Module underwent electrical and acoustic testing at ISRO’s facility in Bengaluru. WION has learnt that the Test Vehicle stands ready and the final steps in preparation for Saturday's mission are being carried out. Notably, this is the maiden flight test for both the Test Vehicle and also for the Crew module.

This Test Vehicle mission with the Crew Module mounted atop, is a significant milestone for the overall Gaganyaan program. It marks the milestone of a near-complete system getting ready for a flight test. The success of this test flight will set the stage for the remaining qualification tests and multiple unmanned missions, leading to the first Gaganyaan mission with Indian Astronauts, ISRO said.

The Crew Module is the structure where the astronauts are meant to be nestled in. It is maintained in a pressurized earth-like atmospheric condition during the Gaganyaan mission, for the safe sustenance of the astronauts. The Crew module for the Gaganyaan mission is in different stages of development.

For the Test Vehicle Abort mission-1 (TV-D1), the Crew Module is an unpressurised version. This unpressurised structure has the overall size and mass of the actual Gaganyaan Crew Module. It houses all the systems for deceleration and recovery, which includes multiple parachutes and associated systems.

The avionics systems in CM are in a dual redundant mode(even if one fails, the backup systems takeover) configuration for navigation, sequencing, telemetry, instrumentation and power. The CM in this mission is designed to capture the flight data for evaluation of the performance of various systems.

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