Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath announced the success of ‘TV-D1’ (Test Vehicle Development Flight 1) on Saturday. Gaganyan mission, the experimental vehicle was launched in the second attempt after encountering engine ignition problems at 8:45 am IST. ISRO briefly aborted the launch of the first uncrewed test flight (TV-D1 flight test). Later, it said that the errors had been identified and corrected and the second launch was scheduled for 10:00 am today.
Addressing the media, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said, “I am very happy to announce the success of the TV-D1 mission. The objective of this mission was to demonstrate the crew escape system of the Gaganyaan program through an experimental vehicle. The vehicle climbed to a Mach number, which exceeded the speed of sound. A little more, and the crew initiated an abort condition for the escape system to work.”
“The crew escape system took the crew module away from the vehicle, and the subsequent operations, including the touch-down at sea, went very well. And we have data confirmation for all of this,” he added.
ISRO chief S Somanath congratulated the scientists after the crew successfully touched down the escape module.
Speaking on the occasion, Mission Director S Sivakumar said, “This is like never before. It is like a bouquet of three experiments. We have now seen the properties of three systems with what we wanted to test through this experiment or this mission. The experimental vehicle, the crew escape. The system, the crew module everything, we performed perfectly on the first attempt. All the systems performed well.”
“We were doing tapasya for the last 3 to 4 years and today was the D-day. We are very happy to have done it in the first attempt,” he added.
This flight test vehicle abort mission was conducted to demonstrate the performance of the crew escape system as part of the Gaganyaan mission.
The mission objectives of the TV-D1 launch were flight demonstration and evaluation of experimental vehicle subsystems; flight demonstration and evaluation of crew escape systems including various separation systems; Crew module features; and demonstration of the slow system at high altitude and its recovery.
The test vehicle is a single-stage liquid rocket designed for this abort mission. Payloads include the Crew Module (CM) and Crew Escape System (CES) with their fast-acting solid motors, CM Fairing (CMF) and interface adapters. This flight simulated abort conditions during the ascent trajectory, corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 on the Gaganyaan mission.
The mission represents a significant milestone in India’s efforts to demonstrate that it is possible to send humans into space.
The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human spaceflight capabilities by launching a three-member crew into a 400-km orbit for a 3-day mission and landing in Indian waters to bring them back safely to Earth.
The program will make India the fourth nation to launch a manned spacecraft mission after the US, Russia and China. Building on the success of Indian space initiatives including recent ones Chandrayaan-3 And Aditya L1 On missions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed that India should now aim for new and ambitious goals, including setting up the ‘Bharatiya Antriksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035 and sending the first Indian into space. the moon By 2040.