Gaganyaan’s first test flight aborted 5 seconds before launch; vehicle safe
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday postponed the launch of the first flight test for its Gaganyaan mission ahead of its launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.
“Test vehicle lift-off could not happen today. Engine ignition has not happened in the nominal course. We have to find out what went wrong; vehicle is safe,” ISRO chief Somanath said after the launch was put on hold just five seconds ahead of the scheduled lift-off.
The uncrewed flight test with a single-stage liquid propulsion rocket, equipped with a Crew Module and Crew Escape System, was earlier scheduled to lift off at 8am on Saturday. Then it was rescheduled to 8:30am and 8:45am before it was called off.
The flight test, being designated as the Test Vehicle Development Flight Mission-1 (TV-D1 Flight Test), was scheduled to demonstrate the performance and safety of the crew module and crew escape system as part of the Gaganyaan mission. It would have also tested the safe landing in the Bay of Bengal after the rocket launch.
The vehicle is 34.9 metres tall and has a lift-off weight of 44 tonnes. The structure of the TV-D1 flight is a single-walled unpressurised aluminium structure with a simulated thermal protection system.
The crew module, a habitable space with an Earth-like environment in space for the crew, consists of a pressurised metallic ‘inner structure’ and an unpressurised ‘external structure’ with ‘thermal protection systems’. It is also equipped with crew interfaces, life support system, avionics and deceleration systems and is also designed for re-entry to ensure the safety of the crew during the descent till touchdown.
The entire test flight sequence was expected to be brief as the Test Vehicle Abort Mission (TV-D1) would have launched the crew escape system and crew module at an altitude of 17 km which was expected to make a safe touchdown in the sea, about 10 km from Sriharikota on India’s eastern coast. They would have later be retrieved by the Navy from the Bay of Bengal.
According to ISRO, the success of the test flight would have set the stage for the remaining qualification tests including around 20 major tests with 3 uncrewed missions of the Human Rated Launch Vehicle (HLVM3), subsequently leading to the launch of the Gaganyaan mission.
The highly anticipated Gaganyaan mission aims to send humans into space on a Low Earth Orbit at an altitude of 400 km for a three-day mission, with a safe return to Earth scheduled for 2025, thus making India the fourth nation to launch a manned spaceflight mission after the US, Russia, and China.
Ahead of the launch, the crew module underwent various tests at ISRO centres before it was integrated into the launch complex in Sriharikota.