Harbour trials for ISRO's Gaganyaan Crew Module recovery commenced

The Indian Space Research Organisation's Gaganyaan mission has reached a significant milestone with the commencement of harbour trials for Crew Module Recovery on July 20, 2023.

Gaganyaan is an ambitious project of ISRO that aims to demonstrate human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members into a 400 km orbit for a 3-day mission, bringing them back safely to Earth, with the landing in Indian sea waters. To achieve this, ISRO is working on developing critical technologies, conducting precursor missions, and ensuring safety and reliability through unmanned missions before crewed spaceflight.

In partnership with the Indian Navy, the harbour trials were conducted at the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam, utilizing a mass and shape simulated Crew Module Mockup (CMRM). This essential mockup ensured that the recovery procedures accurately simulated real conditions.

The trials involved simulating various stages of recovery, including recovery buoy attachment, towing, handling, and lifting of the crew module onto the ship deck, adhering to the recovery sequence.

#MissionGaganyaan gains momentumHarbour trials for Crew Module Recovery commencedJoint #IndianNavy-@isro team successfully undertook recovery trials of Crew Module onboard earmarked ship at #EasternNavalCommand, Visakhapatnam as preparatory activity for 1st test launch mission https://t.co/SshGw40k2E pic.twitter.com/RxXBwJOvIt

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) July 22, 2023

Gaganyaan will launch on the LVM3 rocket, a reliable heavy-lift launcher of ISRO. The Human Rated LVM3 will launch the Orbital Module, comprising the Crew Module (CM) and Service Module (SM), to an intended Low Earth Orbit of 400 km.

The Crew Module houses the crew interfaces, human-centric products, life support system, avionics and deceleration systems. It is also designed for re-entry to ensure the safety of the crew during descent till touchdown. The Service Module will provide the necessary support to CM while in orbit.

If successful, the Gaganyaan mission will be a remarkable achievement for India's space program and will pave the way for future human space exploration endeavours.