ISRO scientist gives students insights into Gaganyaan mission
The Hindu
ISRO scientist talks about the Gaganyaan, Indian's manned space mission.
The Gaganyaan mission plans to send a team of astronauts into space, have them orbit 400 km above the earth for three days and bringing them back safely, said Head of Project Management, Human Spaceflight Group, Gaganyaan, Murthy Remilla.
Delivering a guest lecture on ‘Indian Space Systems from Aryabhata to Gaganyaan’ at KBN College on July 6 (Saturday), he said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been developing key elements needed for the mission, including critical technologies such as a safe launch vehicle for astronauts, a life support system to keep them comfortable in space and plans for their training, recovery and medical care.
He said that after successfully demonstrating the crew’s ability to safely evacuate the rocket in the event of a malfunction, ISRO announced its plan for an unmanned test flight, which would be followed by human astronauts embarking on their journey to space. “Human safety is of paramount importance in Gaganyaan mission. In order to ensure the same, various new technologies, comprising engineering systems and human centric systems, are being developed and realised,” he said.
Four Indian Air Force pilots with significant experience have been selected for the mission, he said.
Referring to the growth journey of the Indian space agency, he said that in the first phase, India approached countries such as the U.S and the U.S.S.R. to make its satellites. “In phase-II, we made our own satellite, but since we did not have a rocket, we went to Russia and launched our satellite from there. Phase-III marked development of indigenous satellites and rockets and in phase-IV, we launched many satellites for many countries—almost 44 foreign satellites,” he said.
Referring to the Chandrayaan mission, he said there have been three missions so far. While the two orbiters were successful, the first lander and rover, which were part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, crashed on lunar surface. The second lander and rover of Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the moon on August 23, 2023, he said.
Mr. Remilla said the next phases of the mission will explore long-term presence on the moon. In an interactive session with students, he explained to them the various functions and activities of the space agency.