India's First Crewed Mission
The Indian Space Agency, ISRO, may not bethe most well-known space agency across the world. However, even with a small budget and latestart compared to other countries, its achievements have been remarkable. From sending 104 satellites in a single rocketto inserting a probe in a Martian orbit on their first attempt, India is quickly becominga global player in the space scene. And whereas space agencies like NASA or ESAhave budgets of billions of dollars, ISRO has successfully completed interplanetarymissions at a fraction of the price. Next up for ISRO is the ambitious Gaganyaanmission, which will be India’s first manned space venture. So, what exactly does ISRO hope to achievewith the Gaganyaan mission? Will this be the forerunner of bigger andbetter things? I’m Alex McColgan, and you’re watchingAstrum, and together we will investigate the details of the Gaganyaan mission, and whatthe Indian Space Agency hopes to achieve in the future. Rakesh Sharma is the first and the only Indiancitizen to travel in space up until this point. He was a part of the Soyuz T-11 mission, whichwas a collaboration between ISRO and the Soviet space program all the way back in 1984. During this mission, he stayed aboard theSalyut 7 space station, a tiny space station that existed back in the 1980s. Since then, there have been plans for furthermanned missions from India itself. One such mission began in 2006, but the projectnever took off due to low funding, meaning it never passed initial planning stages. Fortunately, however, ISRO's success in spacescience over the past decade has led to a renewed interest in a manned mission. All going well, this will be the next breakthroughfor the space agency. In fact, this goal was confirmed by India’sPrime Minister, as one of his commitments since being in power has been to send Indiansto space again by 2022, and this time independently from any other space agency. So, how will they go about doing this? Well, the initial plan is that ISRO’s prideand joy, the GSLV MKIII Launch vehicle, will take the Gaganyaan spacecraft into a low Earthorbit. Gaganyaan will be a fully autonomous spacecraft,designed to carry two or three astronauts into a low earth orbit at 400km altitude forseven days. The spacecraft consists of a crew module,where the astronauts stay; and a service module that contains a variety of support systems. The spacecraft itself will be propelled bytwo liquid-propellant engines. These two modules combined make up the orbitalmodule, which can provide life-support to the crew for seven days before they splashdownin the ocean. This will be an impressive feat, seven daysin space is quite a long time for a simple capsule. Generally speaking, capsules transporting astronauts have only ever needed to make short trips, for instance, the Russians have docked with the ISS in only 6 hours after take-off, and even for longer trips it takes at mostabout 2-3 days.
To meet the 2022 deadline, ISRO has two unmanned test launches planned for December 2020 and July 2021 respectively. The two unmanned flights will help ensurethat everything functions correctly - including the environment control in the modules andto test whether the capsule will remain safe for humans during the duration of the journey. Human space flight simply has to be a seriousstep up in complexity and thoroughness compared to robotic missions, as there’s a lot moreat stake should a manned mission fail. Additionally, ISRO has developed a femalehumanoid robot named “Vyommitra”. This humanoid robot will be a part of boththe manned and unmanned missions of Gaganyaan. During the uncrewed missions, Vyommitra canmimic human functions and will record parameters such as blood pressure and heart rate. Vyommitra will also be able to recognise andunderstand astronauts, and ISRO hopes to see if she can be of help to them during the mannedmission. Other space companies see the value in a robotic colleague too. Recently, SpaceX sent an anthropomorphic test dummy named “Ripley” to mimic human functions, in a similar fashion to Vyom Mitra. In January 2020, ISRO shortlisted 4 men whoare going to be a part of the Gaganyaan mission. The four candidates have already begun their12-month training at Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Centre, Russia. Now of course, humanity already has a lot of experience in LEO, so this mission is less of a scientific mission, rather more of atechnology demonstration mission. However, it is an important first step for ISRO and its future independent missions, which will include Chandrayaan-3, ISRO’s third mission to the moon, and Shukrayaan-1, its first attempt at a mission to Venus. ISRO even hopes to one day build its own space station. So, there we have it, a look at some of the exciting missions that will be coming from India.
Personally, I think this is a good thing forthe space sector. Competition breeds innovation, and if India can make space travel safe and cheap, it can benefit the world going forward. You know what else is safe and cheap? Nord VPN. Over this Black Friday period, they are running a deal where you can sign up to their two-year plan for 68% off, plus 4 additional months absolutely free. Nord VPN is a service that encrypts your dataas you browse online, so that you can make a purchase online while at an airport or ata coffee shop while still being secure. You can even take NordVPN with you throughoutthe world, including China, meaning you can log into the internet as if you were in anycountry. This means you can still access your Netflixor Amazon Prime libraries while you’re abroad, and you can do so from your phone, laptop,or desktop. They also allow up to 6 simultaneous connections,so it’s something your whole family can benefit from. So, use the link https://nordvpn.org/astrumand the coupon code ‘astrum’ at checkout, and you can get 68% off their 2-year plan,and for a limited time, get 4 months for free. Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed reading this article, be sure to subscribe, and also check out this other articles too. If you would like to support too, subscribe and also react to this video All the best and see you next time.
Indian Human Spaceflight Programme
Cost |₹10,000 crore (US$1.3 billion) for maiden crewed mission
Duration | 2006–present 2018–present
First flight | Gaganyaan 1 (2022)
First crewed | Gaganyaan 3 (2023)
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Thanks for reading: India's First Crewed Mission || SRO Gaganyaan Vyommitra || Indian Human Spaceflight Programme, Sorry, my English is bad:)