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Journalism of Courage
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that it tested the Gaganyan Service Module Propulsion System (SMPS) at the ISRO Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri, Odisha, on Wednesday, July 19, 2023.
The Gaganyaan mission is designed to demonstrate the space agency’s human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members to a 400-kilometre orbit around Earth for a 3-day mission. The Gaganyaan mission will be launched on a human-rated version of the LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark 3) but this propulsion system for the service module of the spacecraft will provide important functions functionality like performing orbit injection, circularization, on-orbit control, de-boost manoeuvring.
During the test, five liquid apogee motors (LAM) with 440 newtons of thrust and sixteen reaction control system (RCS) with a thrust of 100 newtons were tested. The LAM engines will provide the main propulsive force during the mission ascending phase while the RCS thrusters will ensure precise attitude correction. The hot testing of the system emulated the performance of the propellant tank feed system, helium pressurisation system, flight-qualified thruster and control components.
The test was conducted for 250 seconds, during which LAM engines were filed in a continuous mode along with RCS thrusters. ISRO had previously conducted five hot tests as part of the Phase-1 test series of the service system demonstration module. The phase-1 tests totalled a duration of 2,750 seconds and included five LAM engines and eight RCS thrusters.
The Phase-2 test series, which the test on Wednesday was part of, includes the full configuration of five engines and sixteen RCS thrusters.
