A Look inside experiments onboard ISRO's Gaganyaan

 A view inside India's Crewed Orbital Spacecraft

NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, CNSA, JAXA & now ISRO

Indian space research organisation is all set to enter the Human Space Flight club with the launch of Gaganyaan.

A scaled 3D printed Ganganyaan Module

Gaganyaan's idea was first introduced in 2006, from then ISRO has achieved many milestones from achieving Mars's orbit successfully in 1st mission to sending most numbers of satellites on a single mission (currently SpaceX holds this record).

• A USD 1.77 billion project, Gaganyaan is ISRO's fully autonomous crewed orbital space craft designed to carry three astronauts to 400km.
• Gaganyaan's first few flights will be for 7 days at 400km from Earth in LEO (low earth orbit).
• A module capable of lifting 8,200kg powered by 5 main engines & 16 thrusters.

ISRO's human space flight missions are being designed under several organisations: 

ISRO taking care of almost everything & working on the launch vehicle GSLV Mklll

DRDO making sure things related to space grade food, crew healthcare, Radiation measurements and protection of  crew module, Recovery operations & fire suppression systems.

HAL - Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has already developed and tested the crew & service module.

The service module is the one which will be powering the crew module & controlling the orbit maneuvers.

Lets have some insights on the service module of Gaganyaan:

•  A 2.9 tonnes module with all crewed mission's requirements.
• Having onboard the SMPS (Service module propulsion system), a unified bipropellant system which helps in orbit maneuvers.
• Propulsion system specifications - MON-3 (mixed oxides of nitrogen) + Monomethylhydrazine.
• 5 main engines (LAE - liquid apogee engines) capable of generating thrust of 440N each.
• 16 reaction control system thrusters capable of generating thrust of 100N each.
• Solar array deployment mechanism which will power the crew module during the mission. 

The module is also capable of rendezvous and docking making it capable of doing every operation that are required for human space flights & cargo missions including missions to take astronauts to Space Station. 

Mission Trajectory:

• Launch site - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Srihariikota
• T+16 mins from lift-off GSLV Mklll will inject Gaganyaan into a 300-400 km orbit.
• Gaganyaan's main ground station is already in operation at Cocos (keelling) Island, Indian Ocean, Australia.
• Seven day in LEO (low Earth orbit)
• De-orbit maneuvers 
• Splashdown in Bay of Bengal near Andaman & Nicobar islands.

Gaganyaan has two parachute which will be deployed below 15km, taking down 216m/s descent to 11m/s splashdown velocities.

sub orbital re-entry & splashdown test of Gaganyaan

Tests already done:

•  Sub orbital flight, re-entry & splashdown - December 18th 2014
• ISRO pad abort test - July 5th 2018
• Crew Escape System - September 2021 at VSSC
• CE-20 engines - upper stage GSLV Mklll - June 5th 2017 - LOX + LH2
• HS200 solid booster - 1st stage booster GSLV Mklll; these are worlds second largest operational  solid rocket booster  - tested on May 13th 2022.

Static fire test : HS200 booster

ISRO aims not to fly animals aboard experimental missions & hence Vyommitra, a humanoid robot will be onboard the uncrewed Gaganyaan missions & will perform micro gravity experiments, helping scientists understand how human body will react to weightlessness, radiations, high g forces and will monitor module parameters during missions.

Vyommitra at ISRO's space conference 

These fascinating experiments will be onboard ISRO's Human Space Flight Missions

During the first crewed flight of Gaganyaan scheduled in early 2023, astronauts onboard will perform 6 major experiments, lets have some deep insights into these fascinating zero gravity experiments:

• 2 biological experiments designed by IIST, UASD & TIRF - Sirtuip1 gene marker effect & kidney stone formations
• Heat sink experiments with high heat flux designed by IIT
• IICT's crystallization phenomenon experiment, &
• Fluid mechanics' experiment designed by JNCASR to study mixing characteristics of fluids in zero g.

ISRO's astronaut suit is already developed & tested by DEBEL, Bangalore. 

ISRO's astronauts are being trained at Roscosmos & ESA's astronaut training facility, ISRO has also developed astronaut training facilities at Human Space Flight Centre, ISRO, Bangalore.

ISRO's flight surgeons who will be supporting Gaganyaan's crew are being trained at ESA's astronaut training centre 

esa astronaut Matthias Maurer with ISRO's flight surgeons

India has several scientists, doctors, engineers, and many others working day & night at different facilities to make Gaganyaan possible,

We have Astronauts being trained at Roscosmos, esa, ISRO HSFC,

Doctors & flight surgeons being trained at Institute of Aerospace Medicine IAM (Indian Air Force),

Engineers working at different ISRO HQs,

Launch pad facilities being prepared at SDSC Sriharikota,

all this while projects like Chandrayaan3 & Aditya1 - the missions to Moon and Sun in progress.

Wishing best for all these fascinating things going around & to all those who are working behind the limelight!

Lets connect & make today more fascinating!

Click here - Sahil Parmar 

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Gratitude :)