Chandrayaan-3, AdityaL1 and Now Gaganyaan: ISRO is on fast track to be global leader
– By SM Vaidya
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has announced the first of the tests for Gaganyaan series on 21st Oct 2023. This is a beginning of a new era for India as Gaganyaan envisages 3 astronauts to be taken to 400 kms and will stay at this orbit for 3 days before crew comes down safely and lands on Indian waters using parachutes and floats. I am sure you understand that it is not easy to take human beings in orbit and make them land safely for many reasons. All our last 4 decades of success was with various payloads but never human beings. This is going to be a game changer and soon aKer the 3 test flights planned at this stage, we shall have a full human rated flight with 3 astronauts by the end of 2024. In the next 12-15 months we are going to see series of flights and ground tests that will qualify our launch vehicle to human rating, Crew module where earth like conditions will be maintain for crew and Low and High-altitude escape modules, Service Module-propulsion module, deployment of parachutes and finally safe landing on India waters.
Launch Vehicle for Gaganyaan will be LVM-3 which has conducted many missions so far but for human rating, a lot of new additions have been made while manufacturing, inspection, testing and certification… Many times, even after taking a lot of efforts and stabilizing manufacturing processes, we land up in minor or major deviations and such deviations are debated- computer simulations or lab simulations are conducted with additional tests and if found satisfactory, it is accepted for a particular mission. For Gaganyaan no major deviations are accepted, and articles are kept aside even if it is very expensive and may delay schedule. Adaptation and recalibration of operators, technicians and inspectors is being done at much higher frequencies than in normal circumstances. Periodic awareness programs are conducted so no complacency sets in in the system. Cleanliness while fabrication of parts, it’s assemblies and tests are almost like an operation theater and every aspect is monitored and noted.
Till date we were launching payloads, and they were taken to desired orbits across the earth of Moon, Mars and now we are attempting to go near the Sun and be at L1 and orbit for smooth uninterrupted analysis. These objects were mechanical or electronic systems and if you give them power and most preferred operating conditions by coating them suitably or giving them enclosure these machines were operating well. Also, once the mission is over, they will be sent to another orbit as debris in the sky/ universe. Now that we are planning to humans in space additional conditioning and enclosures are required to be designed- built and qualified. These are called Crew module and Service module. In crew module astronauts will stay for the intended period and will perform the task assigned, where as service module will provide them the environment, and will take charge of all the operating parameters like temperature, humidity, shocks, vibrations, food, exhaust, toilets, relaxation….It will not only provide comfort and other means to orbit safely but also will provide, emergency ejection or landing systems at every stage. It also must bother for external conditions and navigation, onboard controls, communication with ground, etc. for smooth running like normal payload in its mission mode.
Astronauts when trained are made aware of all such systems which they will be monitoring while performing various experiments when in microgravity or low gravity zone. What will they eat, how will they breathe, where will they sleep or take rest, how is their schedule for 24 hrs monitoring, how will they answer to natural calls, what will they wear and so many activities which we do every day are required to be redefined when you are in orbit. Such simulation chambers for them to give micro gravity, large shocks and vibrations and acceleration is not easy and secng up of such facilities itself a major project and to build and operate.
The next complexity is once a mission is accomplished or duration of stay in orbit this crew must start a journey back to earth. When we take off from earth, we are going against gravity, we are going to thinner air, we are going towards vacuum and low temperatures. Over a period of last 4 decades, we have learned and understood this journey like Abhimanu was aware of how get into Chakravyuvha but return was not learned by him. So is our case, when we climb up gravity even though in reverse direction helps in breaking us or controlling us and whatever force we apply can be controlled. When we are trying to step down from a hill, gravity forces us to move down faster and a small mistake in our calculation may make you fall. It is tiresome when you are climbing up, but one needs to be very careful while stepping down for every foot you are stepping. As we are coming to denser air frictional force is very high and that generates tremendous heat. Racing cars, bullet trains, aircraKs thus have an aerodynamic profile to minimize air resistance and heating up, when we are in free fall conditions it is difficult to navigate the right and most advantageous path so like while we landed on Moon, we used reverse thrusters will be deployed during this journey and speed will be controlled. If Insulation tiles, speed to descent, angle of trajectory… if any of these other parameters are not monitored and controlled we will be heading towards a major disaster. Thus, this portion of the mission is most critical and needs to be monitored and calibrated during the first 3 test flights. Fortunately for us on earth we have an atmosphere unlike the moon and hence we will come close to earth parachutes will be deployed and since we are planning to land on water floats will also be deployed to have smooth landing and not crash landing. However, location where crew will land plus its weight will make demand on parachutes and floats a lot more demanding than normal circumstances. Precision in landing will come from navigation and onboard controls and communication system systems.
Each one requires a good amount of power and managing all this with 3 lives is a big challenge ISRO is ready to take and start demonstrating from this 21st Oct 2023 during Navratri days and while I have huge confidence, I pray goddess to give us and enlighten us at these 3 stages so that we can take or friends safely and bring back them amongst us aKer accomplishment of the mission. It is going to be a success as our scientists have worked very hard and every possible scenario has been mapped.
(SM Vaidya is the Advisor- Technical, at Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd)
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