ISRO plans three uncrewed missions before Gaganyaan launch

ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said three uncrewed missions will be conducted before India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight. He highlighted the importance of mission operations and ongoing preparations, adding that timelines and further details will be announced at an appropriate time

Bengaluru: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman V. Narayanan on Wednesday said that three uncrewed missions are scheduled before the Gaganyaan mission, India’s first human space venture.

Talking to reporters after the inaugural session of the International Conference on Spacecraft Mission Operations, Narayanan said: “Based on the guidelines, direction and the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are working on the Gaganyaan programme.”

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“Before going for the crewed mission, three uncrewed missions are targeted. So right now we are working on the first uncrewed mission. All activities are going on well,” he added.

The space agency chief further said that the time frame and everything else about the missions will be announced at an appropriate time.

Underlining the importance of Spacecraft Mission Operations, Narayanan said, “Mission operation is an important activity in any space mission. The launch vehicle has to work for hardly 20-25 minutes. This mission operation activity has to continue for a long time. When we talk about a communication satellite with a 15-year operation, continuously, this operation has to be done.”

He also cited the example of the Mars Orbiter mission. “For example, our Mars Orbiter mission, almost 300 days, this operation had to be done to make the mission successful,” he said.

Narayanan highlighted that in human spaceflight missions, too, the mission operations are very critical, like any other important mission.

Elaborating on the challenges, he said: “Challenges mean it is the first time you are going to accomplish this mission. We have to do the human rating of the launch vehicle. Then a lot of new developments, including crew escape system, environmental control safety system, interfacing the human being along with the machine and software (are to be done).

About the event, the ISRO chief said: “Here the entire discussion is going to be on the mission operations, including all the new technologies. Around 400 papers are going to be presented and discussed. It will be highly useful for the students, start-up companies and also the engineers who are working in this area.”