ISRO’s year ahead: Test vehicle project under Gaganyaan, landing demo of reusable launch vehicle

The most awaited mission would be the Test Vehicle Project that will use a single-stage launcher to demonstrate crew abort and recovery capability for the Gaganyaan mission.

Test vehicle for characterisation of Crew Escape System at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. (Source: isro.gov.in)

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With the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) first mission of the year adding a fourth launch vehicle to its fleet, its chairman S Somanath said it “will set the tune for the rest of the activities” for the year, leading up to the Test Vehicle Project under the Gaganyaan mission.

“This year is going to be filled with a lot of new developments and activities,” he said, announcing that the very next launch would be a commercial one undertaken by ISRO’s heaviest lifter, LVM3, that will carry 36 OneWeb satellites by mid-March. Last October, in what was ISRO’s first commercial mission using a launch vehicle other than PSLV, LVM3 had placed another set of 36 OneWeb satellites in orbit. OneWeb plans to create a 588-satellite strong constellation to provide high-speed, low-latency global connectivity.

Also Read | Gaganyaan mission: ISRO, Navy start trials for crew module recovery

Another PSLV launch is scheduled for March end, the chairperson said, adding that the rocket was in the process of being placed on the launch pedestal “in a new facility that is going to be used this time.” He did not elaborate about the new facility. Although a new spaceport is under development in Tamil Nadu, it is meant only for small launch vehicles.

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Somanath added that the landing demonstration of its under-development reusable launch vehicle will also take place soon. The reusable launch vehicle will be a rocket with wings that can return and land back. “Currently, the teams are at the landing site in Chitradurga. We are hoping that in a few days, everything will be alright. The initial preparation will be alright and we will be able to do the landing demonstration,” he said.

In his address after the launch on Friday, the chairperson said that at least one GSLV mission, hopefully carrying new-generation satellites for India’s satellite-based navigation system NaVIC will also take place this year. This is scheduled before the launch of the ISRO-NASA satellite called NISAR, which is a novel synthetic aperture radar for earth observation.

The most awaited mission would be the Test Vehicle Project that will use a single-stage launcher to demonstrate crew abort and recovery capability for the Gaganyaan mission.

“I also wanted to tell you there are many more launches of the PSLV scheduled, I am not going into the details of each of them today for lack of time and brevity of my speech,” he said towards the end of his address. This is important because he had previously said that the space agency will attempt its maiden solar mission Aditya L1 aboard PSLV in June or July this year. The mission will see a satellite, with seven scientific payloads to study the sun, travel to a vantage point 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth that will allow an uninterrupted view of the Sun.

Anonna Dutt

Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme. Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports. Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country’s space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan. She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University’s Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times. When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. ... Read More

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