- India’s 1st Human spaceflight programme.
- It will include two unmanned flights and one human space flight.
- It will carry 3 astronauts to a low earth orbit of 300 to 400 kilometres on board GSLV Mark III vehicle, for at least 7 days.
- It will make India the 4th country to send manned mission after Russia, USA and China.
- The first trial (uncrewed flight) for Gaganyaan is being planned by the end of 2023 followed by sending Vyom Mitra, a humanoid and then with the crew onboard.
Components of Gaganyaan
Rocket: GSLV Mk-III
Crew Module
- A crew module and service module.
- The crew members will be selected by the IAF and ISR.
- Crew will perform micro-gravity and other scientific experiments for a week.
Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry technology – CARE
- Satellites that are launched for communication or remote sensing are meant to remain in space.
- However, a manned spacecraft needs to come back.
- While reentering Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft needs to withstand very high temperatures created due to friction.
- A prior critical experiment was carried out in 2014 along with GSLV MK-III when the CARE (Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment) capsule successfully demonstrated that it could survive atmospheric re-entry.
Crew Escape System – PAT
- The Crew Escape System is an emergency accident avoidance measure.
- In July 2018, ISRO completed the first successful flight ‘pad abort test’ or Crew Escape System.
Environmental Control & Life Support System ECLSS
- ECLSS will
- Maintain steady cabin pressure and air composition
- Remove carbon dioxide and other harmful gases
- Control temperature and humidity
- Manage parameters like fire detection and suppression
Vyommitra
- ISRO’s humanoid robot that will test-flight Gangayaan.
- It is a Gynoid (female humanoid).
- Vyom Mitra was built by ISRO’s Inertial Systems Unit, Thiruvananthapuram.
Objectives
- To perform panel operations on board the spacecraft
- Act as companion to astronauts capable of recognizing, conversing and responding to their queries
- To test the Environmental Control & Life Support System of Ganganyaan in order todetect environmental changes.
