Isro put on ‘hold’ Gaganyaan TV-D1 test flight over technical anomaly

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Saturday put on “hold” the first test vehicle development flight (TV-D1) for India’s first human space flight Gaganyaan, citing technical issues.

Space Agency chief S Somanath said that the test flight would be rescheduled soon after checking the anomaly.

“The liftoff attempt of TV-D1 could not happen today. The liftoff was first rescheduled from 8am to 8.45am due to the weather situation. We had a smooth automatic landing sequence (ALS) leading up to the command to liftoff the engine but the engine ignition has not happened in the normal course,” Somanath said after the attempt.

He stressed that while the Isro is trying to assess what went wrong, adding that the entire launch vehicle is safe and they will be announcing a revised date for the launch soon.

Explaining what happened during the liftoff, Somanath said, “The ground checkout computer that performs the function of the liftoff has withheld the launch in view of the anomaly observed.”

On Saturday, Isro was supposed to have conducted the in-flight abort demonstration of the Crew Escape System (CES) at Mach 1.2 with the newly developed test vehicle followed by crew module separation and safe recovery.

The test flight aims to demonstrate and evaluate the sub-systems of the test vehicle, crew escape systems, including various separation systems, to conduct crew module characteristics and demonstrate deceleration systems at higher altitudes and their recovery.

The liquid-propelled single-stage test vehicle, or TV-D1, uses a modified VIKAS engine with a crew module and crew escape system mounted at its foreend.

The Gaganyaan, India’s first human spaceflight mission, envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a three-member crew to an orbit of 400km for a three-day mission and bringing them back safely.

Leading up to the actual manned mission, the space agency will conduct several rounds of tests to ensure the systems are safe to carry and bring back astronauts safely to Earth.

After the TV-D1 test flight demonstration, the space agency will also be carrying out a test flight with a robot, ‘Vyomitra’, a humanoid astronaut, and an unmanned flight before the manned mission, possibly scheduled for 2025, according to officials from the department of space.

The prerequisites for the Gaganyaan mission include the development of many critical technologies, including a human-rated launch vehicle for carrying the crew safely to space, a life support system to provide an earth-like environment to the crew in space, crew emergency escape provision and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation of crew.

For the test flight, the crew escape system consists of five types of quick-acting solid motors, namely crew escape system jettisoning motor (CJM), high-altitude escape motor (HEM), low-altitude escape motor (LEM), low-altitude pitch motor (LPM) and high-altitude pitch motor (HPM), which generate required acceleration for varying mission requirements.

“Indian Navy team will lead the recovery of TV-D1 crew module after touchdown, approximately 10 km from Sriharikota coast. Recovery ships positioned at a safe range in sea waters will approach the crew module and a team of divers will attach a buoy, hoist the crew module using a ship crane and bring it to the shore,” the test flight brochure added.