ISRO's Gaganyaan Mission and Spaceflight Re-Entry Technologies
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Why in News
- The **Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)** is preparing to launch **Gaganyaan**, which will be India's first human spaceflight mission.
- As part of this preparation, scientists are testing the **Crew Module** to make sure it can safely bring astronauts back to Earth through extreme atmospheric heat.
What is the Gaganyaan Mission?
- The government formally announced **Gaganyaan** in **2018** as India's premier indigenous human spaceflight program.
- This mission aims to send a crew of **three astronauts** to a **400 km** **Low Earth Orbit (LEO)** for **three days** before returning them safely to Indian waters.
- A successful flight will make **India** the fourth country after the **United States**, **Russia**, and **China** to launch a human spaceflight independently.
- The heavy lift rocket **Human-rated Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (HLVM3)** will push the spacecraft into its designated orbit.
- Before sending humans, **ISRO** is conducting uncrewed flight tests to verify the safety of the **Crew Module**, **Crew Escape System**, and **HLVM3**.
- India has designated four astronaut-designates for the mission: **Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair**, **Group Captain Ajit Krishnan**, **Group Captain Angad Pratap**, and **Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla**.
- This mission allows scientists to perform microgravity experiments in medicine, material science, and biology while testing critical systems like life-support and radiation shielding.
- These technical achievements will help **ISRO** build the **Bharatiya Antariksh Station** by **2035** and land an Indian astronaut on the Moon by **2040**.
- The complete spacecraft is known as the **Orbital Module (OM)**, which uses a two-part design to keep weight low.
- The **Crew Module (CM)** is a pressurized living capsule with an **Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS)** that mimics Earth's environment for the crew.
- The **Crew Module** also carries a **Thermal Protection System (TPS)**, advanced electronics, and parachutes to survive atmospheric entry and sea landing.
- The **Service Module (SM)** stays unpressurized in space, supplying power, propulsion, and temperature management until it separates and burns up in the atmosphere.
- Unlike **Russia's Soyuz** and **China's Shenzhou** which use three modules, **Gaganyaan** uses two modules to create a lighter and more efficient spacecraft.
Safe Atmospheric Re-entry Mechanisms
- Before re-entry begins, the **Connect & Disconnect System (CS-CDS)** detaches the **Service Module** from the **Crew Module** so the capsule maintains its correct center of gravity.
- The capsule uses a sphere-cone shape where its flat bottom pushes away intense atmospheric heat and its cone shape helps control gravitational forces during descent.
- This design builds upon early space technology like the **Soviet Union's Vostok** spacecraft that carried **Yuri Gagarin** into space in **1961**.
- An ablative **Thermal Protection System (TPS)** acts as a heat shield, slowly burning away to protect astronauts from high atmospheric temperatures.
- The **Reaction Control System (RCS)** thrusters keep the spacecraft steady so the heat shield stays facing forward during high-speed descent.
- A multi-stage parachute system opens in steps, using drogue chutes to stabilize the craft before main parachutes slow it down for a safe water landing.
- If the capsule flips upside down after landing in the sea, the **Crew Module Up-righting System (CMUS)** inflates flotation bags with gas to turn it right-side up.
- This upright position ensures astronaut safety and allows communication devices to signal **Indian Navy** recovery ships.
Key Mission Details and Uncrewed Testing
- The upcoming uncrewed **G1 mission** will fly the **Vyommitra humanoid robot** into space to monitor life-support systems before human astronauts take flight.