Bengaluru-based ISRO is busy with its flagship project Gaganyaan, which aims to demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities.
Published Date – Sat 15 Jul 23 at 2:31pm
Sriharikota: The historic launch of India’s third mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-3, aboard an LVM3-M4 rocket, gives a major boost to the country’s first manned spaceflight program as it has ‘human-rated’ capabilities The same launch vehicle will be used for the ambitious Gaganyaan mission.
The Bengaluru-based ISRO is busy with its flagship project ‘Gaganyaan’, which envisages demonstrating human spaceflight capabilities by launching three astronauts into a 400km orbit for 3 days and returning safely to Earth. By landing in seawater.
The 44.3-meter-tall LVM3 rocket that launched Chandrayaan-3 on July 14 will be a launch vehicle with “human-rated” capabilities, according to scientists at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
ISRO’s heavy launch vehicle consists of three stages – a solid stage, a liquid stage and a cryogenic stage.
ISRO said that for the Gaganyaan program, the LVM3 rocket was reconfigured to meet human-rated requirements and named “Human-rated LVM3”, which will be capable of launching orbital modules to a low-Earth orbit of 400 km.
In a sign of the reliability of the launch vehicle, the LVM3 rocket carrying the Lunar Ship spacecraft lifted off majestically on Friday and performed as planned, officials said.
LVM3 is ISRO’s heavy-duty launch vehicle, which is used to achieve the capability of launching 4000 kg spacecraft to geosynchronous transfer orbit.
The LVM3 rocket is a three-stage launch vehicle consisting of two solid-propellant S200 bundles and a core stage consisting of an L110 liquid stage and a C25 cryogenic stage.
ISRO chairman S Somanath said Gaganyaan’s first abort mission will take place by the end of August.
ISRO plans to launch an uncrewed mission into orbit by the end of next year.
The test vehicle is currently ready here, and scientists are working on the assembly of the crew cabin and crew escape system.
