(Daily News Scan - DNS English) ISRO’s Gaganyaan Mission
Important Points:
Recently there were talks that Chandrayaan 2 mission will have impact on the ISRO’S Gaganyaan mission. But the ISRO Officials have cleared the doubts by mentioning that it won’t have any impact on the Gaganyaan mission as both the missions have different objectives and dimensions. ISRO has planned to complete its Gaganyaan mission by sending three men into space in the year 2022. As per the officials Chandrayaan had its own challenges, whereas different missions have different complications and challenges to overcome. Gaganyaan will focus on sending the astronauts safely into space and bringing them back safe.
In this DNS we will talk about the mission Gaganyaan and some information associated with it.
Gaganyaan mission is one of India’s first manned space missions. The official announcement for the same was made by The Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech in 2018. In this mission, it is planned to send three humans from India into space in the Low Earth orbit by 2022.
Low Earth Orbit is an orbit around Earth with an altitude above Earth’s surface of 2000 km. Most of the satellites are present in the low earth orbit including the International Space Station along with most of the manmade objects in present in space.
The Gaganyaan mission will be of seven days and it will carry 3 human beings into space. To carry these humans into space GSLV MK III rocket will be used. The crew of three astronauts from India visiting the space will be called as Vyomanauts. It is a special name given to the Indian astronauts. The total duration of the space visit is 7 days.
Sending humans into space is not an easy task. Rather it is a critical one, as the focus is towards ensuring environmental Control, life support systems which make the crew capsule livable and flight safe for astronauts along with focus on food and hygiene.
For the astronauts, prototype space suit of orange color has been developed by ISRO at the Vikram Sarabhai Space centre. This suit can hold single oxygen cylinder allowing the astronaut to breathe in space for 60 minutes. The crews work will be to do a micro gravity experiment during the mission. Before sending the crew into space ISRO will test two unmanned space shuttles. ISRO has successfully tested crew escape capsule. This will enable the three crew member to keep them safe while an emergency situation occurs.
In order to send 3 astronauts into space ISRO has signed a Mou (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Indian Air force for selecting astronauts and training them. At the initial phase 30 aspirants will be selected, from which only 15 will be picked for further training. From this later on 9 will be selected for the final training and test. Recently, the first level i.e. the short listing of 30 eligible test pilots has already been done by the Indian Air Force.
For this man mission, ISRO and Russia’s Federal Space Agency ROSCOSMOS have agreed to work together by signing a MOU. The ROSCOSMOS has offered ride to Indian astronaut to INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. Earlier, Russia had sent an Indian Cosmonaut in a Soviet Soyuz mission in 1982. Former Indian Air force pilot Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to travel to space as a part of Soviet Union’s Soyuz T- II expedition.
For this Gaganyaan mission the government has sanctioned an amount of Rs 10,000 crore in December 2018. The successful completion of this mission will make India the 4th nation in the world after USA, Russia and China to launch Space flight safely.
This mission will provide a unique micro gravity platform in space to India for conducting experiments and test for future technologies. It is supposed to generate employment, inspire young students to take up science and technology as a career and will boost good research and technological development. Another motive of this mission is improving International relations. This mission will have a deep impact on the world by elevating India’s status and image in comparison to other countries.
