India completes crucial test in crewed space mission.
Purpose of test was to demonstrate crew escape system.
“Mission Gaganyaan gets off on a successful note,” says ISRO.
NEW DELHI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday successfully launched the first unmanned trial run of its upcoming crewed orbital mission, in the latest milestone for its spacefaring ambitions.
According to NDTV, India will demonstrate its human spaceflight capabilities in a mission called Gaganyaan (“Skycraft”), scheduled to launch in 2024. The country will set up a space station by 2035 and work on a Venus orbiter as well as a Mars lander.
Saturday’s rocket tested the emergency escape system of its crew module, which separated from the thruster and made a soft sea landing about 10 minutes after the launch.
“We are very happy to announce the success of the mission. The purpose of the mission was to demonstrate the crew escape system. The vehicle went slightly above the speed of sound, before it initiated the crew escape system,” ISRO chief S. Somanath said afterwards.
“The escape system took the crew module away from the vehicle and subsequent operations including the touch-down at the sea have been very well accomplished,” he added.
The lift-off was postponed for two hours after bad weather and a glitch in the engine.
ISRO will conduct a series of 20 major tests, including carrying a robot to outer space, before the final manned mission takes place in 2025.
Gaganyaan is the first mission of its kind for India and comes with an estimated price tag of $1.08 billion, according to ISRO.
India plans to send astronauts beyond the reaches of Earth’s atmosphere for three days before they are brought safely back with a soft landing in Indian territorial waters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced plans to send a man to the Moon by 2040 following a year of triumphs for India’s space programme.
India became in August just the fourth nation to land an unmanned craft on the Moon after Russia, the United States and China.
The following month, India launched a probe to observe the outermost layers of the Sun from solar orbit.
India’s space programme has grown considerably in size and momentum since it first sent a probe to orbit the Moon in 2008, and it has steadily matched the achievements of established spacefaring powers at a fraction of their cost.
India also plans a joint mission with Japan to send another probe to the Moon by 2025 and an orbital mission to Venus within the next two years.
Experts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing technology, and thanks to an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of their foreign counterparts’ wages.