Countdown for Gaganyaan First unmanned flight test to begin at 8.00 am Friday
Chennai, Oct 19 : The 24-hour countdown for the first unmanned
Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1) to demonstrate the crew
escape system of the Gaganyaan programme, will begin at 8.00 am
at SHAR Range, Sriharikota on Friday.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sources on Thursday
said the countdown will commence at 0800 hrs tomorrow.
The launch of the short duration mission will take place from the First
Launch Pad at 0800 hrs on Saturday morning and the entire mission
will last 531 secs (about nine minutes).
This flight test will mark a major milestone in the overall Gaganyaan
programme–which will be India’s first manned mission to space–and
will define the in-flight abort demonstraton of Crew Escape System
(CES) at Mach Number 1.2 with the newly developed Test Vehicle
followed by Crew Module Separation and Recovery.
The objective of the mission is Flight demonstration and evaluation
of Test Vehicle sub systems, Crew Escape System including various
separation systems and Crew Module characteristics & deceleration
systems demonstration at higher altitude and its recovery.
The 35 m tall Liquid Propelled Single StageTest Vehicle, weighing
about 44 ton, uses a modified Vikas engine with 4,520 kg Crew
Module (CM) and CES mounted at its fore end.
“The entire flight sequence, right from lift off from the First Launch Pad
to the crew module touchdown at sea about 10 km frm Sriharikota, with
the deployment of parachutes, will last 531 seconds”, ISRO said.
The CM is a single walled unpressurised aluminium structure.
It said about 60 seconds after the lift, the test vehicle — crew escape
system will get separated at an altitude of 11.7 km and 30 seconds later,
the CM-CES will get separated at an altitude of 16.7 km at a velocity of
148.7 m/s.
Subsequently, the abort sequence will be executed autonomously
commencing with the separation of CES and deployment of series of
parachutes, finally culminating in the safe touchdown of the CM in the
sea, about 10 km from the coast of Sriharikota, the Space Agency said.
