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.