Ever
since the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin flew into space on April 12, 1961 in his
Vostok-1 spacecraft, space has become the cradle of humanity. He was quickly followed
by the American astronaut Allan Shephard on May 5, 1961 and later by the Chinese
astronaut Chang Liwei on October 15, 2003. If India can make it to space with
its ambitious Gaganyaan spacecraft in 2022 to mark the 75th year of
India’s Independence as announced by our Prime Minister on his Independence Day
address, it will be the fourth nation in the world to leave
its footprint in space. The only Indian citizen
to have launched into space so far is Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma who flew
into space in 1984 on a Russian spacecraft. Since then, two women astronauts of
Indian origin but American citizens, namely Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams
have also flown into space. However, an Indian citizen travelling into space in
a purely Indian mission is yet to be achieved!
Complexities
of a Manned Space Mission
A manned space mission is very different
from all other missions that ISRO has so far completed. In terms of complexity
and ambition, even the missions to the Moon (Chandrayaan) and Mars (Mangalyaan)
are nowhere in comparison to the feat of launching a manned mission into space.
For a manned mission, the key distinguishing capabilities that ISRO has to
acquire are to build a spacecraft in
which astronauts can live in Earth-like conditions in space and develop the
ability to bring the spacecraft back to Earth after flight. Over the years,
ISRO has successfully met many of the challenges required for a manned spaceflight,
but many others are yet to be developed and tested
ISRO’s
Capability
While
India has sent unmanned missions to the Moon and planet Mars for scientific exploration,
an Indian manned mission to space is long due and is a natural corollary of India’s
space programme. Although India
had no concrete plans before to embark on a Human Spaceflight Programme ( HSP),
most of the critical technologies and hardware required for accomplishing such
a mission has already been tested by ISRO including the flight of a crew
module in space and its re-entry into the atmosphere, environment control and life
support system inside the crew capsule and various safety provisions like the
crew emergency escape in case of launch abort. It will not be difficult for
ISRO to clear the remaining hurdles in the field like the selection and
training of astronauts, designing of space suits and selection of healthy foods
and medicines for them etc. ISRO is also actively upgrading its tracking and
telemetry system to monitor the mission
round the clock with its network of tracking stations around the globe.
Plan
If everything goes right, three Indian
astronauts will be lifted off from a refurbished launch pad at Sriharikota by
a GSLV Mark III launch vehicle in a 7000 kg crew capsule and circle the Earth
for nearly 7 days in a low earth orbit of 300 to 400 km. It is still unclear who the crew will be, though
indications are strong that at least one member will be a woman.
The Orbital Module
will take 36 minutes to be launched into space in the Low Earth Orbit and shall
stay in the orbit conducting experiments in micro-gravity. The Orbital Module
will comprise a Crew Module and a Service Module which will offer a life support
system for the crew and will be placed on the top of the launch vehicle. On
return, the Service Module will be detached from the Crew Module and remain in
space to gather further information. The Crew Module, in the shape of a small
cubicle, will take 36 minutes to splash in the Arabian Sea which will be
recovered by the Navy in 15 to 20 minutes. Before this planned mission, two
unmanned missions will also be launched to ensure the success of the manned
mission.
During its nearly five decades long illustrious
career, ISRO has come of age and certainly has the
capability and world class expertise to achieve this path breaking feat.
Cost and
Benefits
The entire project would be accomplished
at a whopping cost of Rupees 9000 crores. If India can do this, it will be a
technological demonstration rather than a source of fetching immediate dividends.
Although some critics argued it as a waste of money that could have been
diverted to fulfilling basic needs like food, housing and sanitation for a developing
country like India, yet our goal of mastering new technologies and unraveling
new frontiers of nature should never be compromised. If we don’t accept the
challenge in the space race, other competitor countries like China would be the
fore-runners in the field. China has
already gained an upper hand in the field which is evident from the fact that as
we are planning to send a man into space by 2022, China, which has already sent
two humans to space, would have established a permanent space station then for
long stay of its astronauts for exploration and research. As the father of our
space programme Vikram Sarabhai puts it
, “ There are some who questions the relevance of space activities in
developing nations. But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful
role nationally, and in the community of nations, we should be second to none,
in the application of advanced technologies in the real problems of the man and
the society.”
Greatest Achievement in space History
Already, India has created a milestone by launching 104 satellites from
a single rocket with minimal cost, the most number of satellites to have been ever
launched from a single launcher by any nation. An Indian flying into space in a
fully owned Indian mission will be the greatest achievement of India which
cannot be paralleled by any other event in space history. The feat will not only show-case the
nation’s technological prowess in space exploration, but also give a tremendous
boost to the shaping of our future space programme. As many new infrastructural
facilities would be established and a number of state of the art technologies
will be tested as a part of this programme, this would lead to further
strengthening of our capabilities in space in our goal of exploring the vast realm of an
infinite and mysterious universe.
GSLV MK III LAUNCH VEHICLE LIFT OFF FROM SRIHARIKOTA
FROM LIFTOFF TO LANDING
CREW MODULE OF GAGANYAAN MISSION
Education Officer
Regional Science Centre
Bhopal
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