ISRO’s First Unmanned Mission Under Gaganyaan Programme Planned for December 2022
If successful, India would be the fourth nation to achieve the feat. Sivan further added that India's space agency has set a ‘target’ of achieving the country’s ambitious manned mission to space by 2021.
Sriharikota, November 14: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch the nation's first unmanned programme of ‘Gaganyaan’ for December 2020, the space agency’s chief K Sivan said on Wednesday. If successful, India would be the fourth nation to achieve the feat. Sivan further added that India's space agency has set a ‘target’ of achieving the country’s ambitious manned mission to space by 2021. "On 15 Aug’17, our PM declared a great gift for all of us that is Gaganyaan mission. Already team is identified and work is going on. Team ISRO has the capability to do the work", Sivan added.
The ‘Gaganyaan’ mission, proposed by the prime minister on August 15, is a “very fantastic mission, a great gift he has given to all of us as a work,” Sivan said. “The first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan team we are planning for December 2020, to have the first human in space mission by December 2021. This is the target we are setting (for ourselves),” he said.
When Sivan was asked when asked where the launch of the manned mission would take place, he said, “it will be happening from Sriharikota. And for that launch, we have to modify the launch pad.”
About Gaganyaan:
- Gaganyaan, which means Skycraft, is an Indian spacecraft intended to be the basis of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme.
- The spacecraft is a fully autonomous 3.7-tonne spacecraft designed to carry a 3-member crew to orbit and safely return to the Earth after a mission duration of few orbits and up to seven days.
- In its maiden crewed mission, Indian Space Research Organisation's largely autonomous 3.7-tonne capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km (250 mi) altitude for up to seven days with a three-person crew on board.
- The crewed vehicle is planned to be launched on ISRO's GSLV Mk III in December 2022.
On Wednesday, ISRO successfully launched the GSLV-MK-III D2 carrying GSAT-29 satellite from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. After the successful launch, Sivan said the credit must go to the ISRO team. "Let me congratulated the entire team for this wonderful achievement", he said.
The 3,423 kg GSAT-29 carries Ka and Ku band high throughput transponders intended to meet the communication requirements of users, including in the North East and in Jammu and Kashmir. The satellite was successfully injected into a geosynchronous orbit, 18 minutes after lift-off.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 14, 2018 10:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).