‘TV-D1’ (Test Vehicle Development Flight 1) of the Gaganyaan Mission has been declared successful on Saturday by S Somanath, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The test vehicle had an engine ignition issue at 8:45 am and was launched again on the second try.
Addressing the media, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said,” I am very happy to announce the successful accomplishment of the TV-D1 mission. The purpose of this mission was to demonstrate the crew escape system for the Gaganyaan program through a test vehicle demonstration in which the vehicle went up to a Mach number, which is slightly above the speed of sound, and initiated an abort condition for the crew escape system to function.”
“The crew escape system took the crew module away from the vehicle, and subsequent operations, including the touch-down at sea, have been very well accomplished. and we have confirmation of the data for all of this,” he added.
ISRO chief S Somanath congratulated scientists after the successful touchdown of the crew escape module.
On the occasion, Mission Director S Sivakumar said, ” This is like a never before attempt. It is like a bouquet of three experiments put together. We have now seen the characteristics of all three systems with what we wanted to test through this experiment or this mission. The test vehicle, the crew escape system, the crew module everything, we have perfectly demonstrated in the first attempt. All the systems performed well.”
“We had been at penance for the last 3 to 4 years and the D-day was today… We are very happy to be able to do it on the very first attempt,” he added.
This Flight test vehicle Abort mission was conducted to demonstrate the performance of the Crew escape system as part of the Gaganyaan mission.
The mission objectives of the TV-D1 launch were Flight demonstration and evaluation of Test Vehicle subsystems; flight demonstration and evaluation of Crew Escape System including various separation systems; crew module characteristics; and deceleration system demonstration at higher altitudes and its recovery.
Designed specifically for this abort mission, the Test Vehicle is a one-stage liquid rocket. The payloads are the interface adapters, CM fairing (CMF), and fast-acting solid motors from the Crew Escape Systems (CES) and Crew Module (CM). The abort condition during the ascent trajectory corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 encountered in the Gaganyaan mission was reproduced in this flight.
In India’s endeavor to prove that it is feasible to launch humans into space, this mission marks a critical turning point. By launching a crew of three people into a 400 km orbit for a three-day trip and safely returning them to Earth by landing in Indian waters, the Gaganyaan project aims to demonstrate the potential of human spaceflight.
