Pawan Kumar
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Through the Gaganyaan program, India has seen a dream of realizing human flight in space. To fulfill this, now the Indian Space Research Organization ie ISRO has started implementing its efforts. The result of these efforts is that the country is being successful in giving proof of its indigenous strength to the world in space.
In this episode, the Gaganyaan human space flight program has achieved a special status. After a long wait, scientists at ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Center on Friday (November 18) successfully tested the first ‘Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop (IMAT)’ at Babina Field Fire Range (BFFR) in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh. . Why is this IMAT so important for the Gaganyaan program? Will talk about this here.
What is ISRO’s parachute air drop test?
In fact, the purpose of the Gaganyaan program is to convince the indigenous capability of starting human space flight mission in the lower orbit of the earth. For this, it is also very important for the parachute system to be full proof. This has been called the Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Test.
The purpose of this test was to assess the strength and capability of the parachute, so that there would be no problem while landing the crew module of Gaganyaan in future. 3 parachutes are going to play an important role in this Gaganyaan mission.
Through this test on Friday, it was known about the ability of the crew module of the second parachute to make a correct and safe landing in the event of failure of one parachute. In this direction, the success of IMAT on Friday has proved to be a milestone for ISRO.
Parachute System of Gaganyaan Crew Module
The parachute system of the Gaganyaan crew module will have 10 parachutes. In the future, for the landing of Gaganyaan astronauts on the ground from the lower orbit of the earth, there will be two special parachutes i.e. apex cover separation parachutes in the first phase. These parachute crew modules will act as protective cover in the parachute system.
After this, two Drogue Parachutes will also be used to reduce the speed of the astronauts coming down from the Earth’s lower orbit and to keep this process of landing stable and safe.
Actually a conical or funnel shaped device with open ends is called a droog. Actually, these drugs work to reduce the speed of any fast-moving object, to stabilize and control it.
According to ISRO’s website, after releasing the drogue parachute, 3 pilot shoots will be used to open 3 special parachutes separately. A chute is an inclined channel or path in which objects are driven or propelled by gravity.
This will help in reducing the speed of the Gaganyaan crew module to a safe level before landing. Out of 3 special or important parachutes, only 2 will be sufficient for the landing of astronauts on the earth and the third one will not be used.
This is how parachutes will be tested
The accuracy of the tiny parachutes will be assessed by sophisticated assay methods such as the Rail Tracked Rocket Sled (RTRS). So planes and helicopters will be used to assess the work of special (Main Parachutes) parachutes.
A rocket sled is a wheelless test platform that slides along a set of tracks via a rocket. It provides a controlled environment for testing the effects of high speed, wind speed and acceleration for payloads, aircraft and missiles, among other things.
How important is IMAT
The integrated main parachute airdrop test is very important for the Gaganyaan parachute system, as this test has been carried out with a hypothetical scenario in which one of the main parachutes has failed to open. Such a scenario was created so that when this would actually happen, would the parachutes deployed as a precaution work or not.
This is the first test of this kind in which the parachute system has been tested by preparing that kind of environment by imagining the future problems and failures in the Gaganyaan parachute system.
This is the first test of this series. If all the tests in this series prove to be as successful as this first test, then it means that this system will be considered suitable for use in the first human spaceflight mission.
test done
To conduct this first airdrop test of the series, a dummy equal to the mass of the crew module of 5 tonnes has been used. It was taken up to a height of 2.5 km. After this, this parachute was thrown downwards from this height using the IL-76 aircraft of the Indian Air Force.
It was similar to the way pilots of any aircraft jump from a height towards the earth using a parachute in an emergency. After this, two small pyro-based mortar pilot parachutes were released. Both these parachutes opened within 7 seconds. This test was carried out with the help of ISRO, DRDO, Indian Air Force and Army.
According to ISRO, during this test, a fully inflated main parachute reduced the speed of the payload to a safe landing speed. It took only 2 to 3 minutes to complete this test. Along with this, this airdrop test was successful, because the payload mass safely landed on the ground slowly.
This confirmed that in the coming times astronauts will also be able to land safely from Earth’s orbit. Payload is called the load or thing which is carried by a launch vehicle i.e. launch vehicle in space.
ISRO and the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) have designed a deceleration system with a parachute for the Gaganyaan crew module. This system is used to reduce the speed.
In this simulated test, the main parachutes filled with air successfully landed the payload despite one of the main parachutes failing to open. In this way, this first test of the test series designed to assess the performance of the Gaganyaan parachute system was completely successful.
With this, the expectations of India’s first human space-flight mission Gaganyaan to be launched in 2024 have increased further. Along with this, through this parachute airdrop test of ISRO, it has also become clear that India has the ability to establish its own identity in space.
What is Gaganyaan program after all?
Under the Gaganyaan program, 3 flights will be sent to the Earth’s lower orbit ie low-Earth orbit (LEO). In this, the first two flights will be unmanned and the third flight will take humans into space.
According to NASA, LEO includes Earth-centered orbits with an altitude of 2,000 km or less. Most of the satellites are in LEO only. LEO is considered to be an area of Earth’s orbit very close to Earth.
For commercial use, LEO has been considered suitable for convenient transportation, communication, monitoring and resupply. Space Space Station (ISS) is also here. Many future proposed platforms will also be here.
According to ISRO, the purpose of sending the first two flights without humans is to verify the technology, test the safety and reliability. Both these missions are to understand the spacecraft system in a better way, so that there is no shortage in the spaceflight carrying humans in space.
Gaganyaan 1
The first flight of the Gaganyaan program is Gaganyaan-1. It is expected to be launched in 2023. This will be an uncrewed flight. Without crew means unmanned flight. Through this, the Gaganyaan crew capsule will be launched.
As part of Gaganyaan 1, the spacecraft will be launched at an altitude of 15 km. Prior to this, the landing was delayed due to a fault by using a parachute to confirm the return of the crew to the Earth by the Space Scientist Crew Capsule.
