Gaganyaan Mission

Why in news?

• The Union Minister has announced that the “Gaganyaan” Test Vehicle Development flight (TV-D1) will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on October 21st. 

About Test Vehicle Development flight (TV-D1)

• Test Vehicle Development Flight (TV-D1) is intended to test the ‘crew module’ or the part of the Gaganyaan vehicle where the Indian astronauts will be housed.
• The test involves launching the crew module to outer space and bringing it back to earth and recovering it after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal. 
• Additionally, there’s a crew escape system that can safely return the astronauts to the sea if there are any issues during the launch.
• The success of this test will set the stage for the first unmanned “Gaganyaan” mission and ultimately manned mission to outer space in low earth orbit.

About Gaganyaan Mission

• Gaganyaan is the Indian crewed orbital space mission intended to carry three people into the space.
• Two unmanned Gaganyaan missions will be undertaken prior to sending humans. It will circle Earth at a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 300-400 km from earth for 5-7 days.
• GSLV Mk III, the three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle, will be used to launch Gaganyaan as it has the necessary payload capability.
• The mission makes India the fourth nation in the world to launch a human spaceflight mission after the US, Russia and China.
• ISRO and Russian space agency ROSCOSMOS signed an MoU in 2015 to collaborate for the manned space mission. Four Astronauts for the mission were chosen and send to Russia for further training.
• Gaganyaan mission envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a human crew to an orbit of 400 kmand bringing them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters. 
• The prerequisites for Gaganyaan mission include development of many critical technologies including 1) human rated launch vehicle for carrying crew safely to space 2) Life Support System to provide an earth like environment to crew in space and 3) crew emergency escape provision and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation of crew.
• The mission is expected to be executed in the second half of 2024.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Consider the following statements regarding Gaganyaan mission:

1. It intends to send 3 people to moon by the end of 2024.
2. GSLV Mk III will be the launch vehicle for the mission.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer