1st uncrewed mission of Gaganyaan in Dec: It’s race against time for ISRO now

PTI, Jun 28, 2021, 2:03 PM IST

Credits: Twitter

Bengaluru: The Indian Space Research Organisation is racing against time to launch the first uncrewed mission in December, as part of the human spaceflight programme ‘Gaganyaan’, due to the adverse impact of the COVID-19-induced lockdowns that has disrupted hardware delivery schedules.

As part of the mandate of Gaganyaan, two uncrewed flights are planned to test the end-to-end capacity for the manned mission.

Officials of the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency said the first and second waves of the pandemic have ”severely affected” the Gaganyaan program.

Hardware elements for the mission are fabricated by the industry, and lockdowns in different parts of the country at different periods have adversely impacted delivery schedules.

”Design, analysis, and documentation are done by ISRO while hardware for Gaganyaan is fabricated and supplied by hundreds of industries across the country”, an ISRO official told P T I.

The objective of the Gaganyaan program is to demonstrate the capability to send humans to low earth orbit onboard an Indian launch vehicle and bring them back to earth safely.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Space, Jitendra Singh said in February this year that the first unmanned mission is planned in December 2021 and the second unmanned one in 2022-23, followed by the human spaceflight demonstration.

Four Indian astronaut candidates have already undergone generic space flight training in Russia as part of the Gaganyaan program.

ISRO’s heavy-lift launcher GSLV Mk III has been identified for the mission.

The formal announcement of the Gaganyaan program was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address on August 15, 2018.

The initial target was to launch human spaceflight before the 75th anniversary of India’s independence on August 15, 2022.

”Most of our industry (that supplied hardware for the program) was closed (due to COVID-induced lockdowns)”, an ISRO official said.

”There was an impact on the realization of hardware systems. We expect some delay”.

Another official of the space agency said ISRO is trying to meet the target by putting in ”extra hours, extra work.” ISRO sources said most of the activities relating to the Gaganyaan program are over, noting that the space agency was working on the project even a decade before the formal announcement was made nearly three years ago.

ISRO is also taking the help of French, Russian, and US space agencies in ”some of the crucial activities and supply of components”, sources said.

”That way, we are not going to lose much time. But mainly because of closure industries in India, it’s having an impact on the realization of hardware. But still, we are trying to achieve the target for the mission set by the Government of India”, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said earlier this month.

He had added that right now he is not sure whether ISRO would be able to meet the target for the manned mission by August next year.

”It may be too early for me to commit. But we are trying to target the mission by that time,” Sivan, also Secretary in the Department of Space, had added.