On October 21, ISRO nailed the test for its Crew Escape System (CES), a key step in their Gaganyaan human space travel program. The team will now go through all the data from the mission and has plans for three more tests to make sure all the tech is up to par and the crew stays safe.
India’s Gaganyaan mission has hit a snag in its schedule. Initially, the first human space trip was set for 2022, coinciding with India’s 75th independence anniversary, with an orbit of roughly 400 kilometers. However, Covid-19 has played a major role in pushing things back. Additionally, delays in obtaining crucial tech from Russia, Europe, and the US have added to the setback. As it stands, the mission might not take off until 2025.
But since this mission is all about sending humans up there, ISRO is being super careful. ISRO has emphasized that timing isn’t as important as making sure everything’s good to go. They’re taking their sweet time with each system. Roughly speaking, they’re about halfway there. They’ve picked four astronauts, who have already trained their socks off for about a year in Russia and are now honing their skills at the Indian astronaut training academy.
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Exciting missions wait ahead for ISRO
On October 17, when checking out the Gaganyaan developments, Indian PM Narendra Modi gave ISRO some fresh and bold tasks. He wants them to figure out how to set up an Indian Space Station by 2035 and get an Indian on the Moon by 2040. Plus, they’ve been told to start thinking about cool stuff like missions to Venus and putting a lander on Mars. Chandrayaan-3’s recent win, especially nailing the soft landing of the lander and rover on the Moon, has gotten ISRO a whole bunch of new fans worldwide. With this achievement in the bag, it seems like ideas like a space station and reaching Venus might just be within reach for them.
Back in 2006 and 2007, India started looking into whether they could send humans to space. The idea for a space station first came up in 2019, mentioned by the then-ISRO boss. He suggested it could weigh as much as 20 tons, with astronauts possibly staying there for 15 to 20 days. The plan was to get this thing up and running by 2030, but now it looks like the timeline’s been pushed to 2035 due to the Gaganyaan program delay. Once ISRO gets Gaganyaan right, they’ll need to aim even higher.
They gotta make sure Indian astronauts can do spacewalks, get good at fixing stuff and building in space, try out docking experiments (both with robots and by hand), create a robotic space arm, and build a ride that can haul tons of cargo to the low Earth orbit. And that’s not all, setting up the space station itself will need a bunch of brand-new tech.
Back in 2014 and 2015, the Advisory Committee for Space Science, run by former ISRO bigwig Prof. U R Rao, suggested a trip to Venus to learn more about the planet’s history. By 2017, they had finished all the initial research for the Venus project after funds were granted.
Back in 2016-2017, there was some teamwork with the Japanese space agency JAXA to check out the Venus atmosphere. By 2019, they’d picked about 25 science tools, some of them from foreign agencies. Right now, they’re not sure when this mission will take off. There’s a chance they might go for it in December 2024, but the next good opportunity won’t come until 2031.
ISRO’s biggest challenge so far
In the next two years, India is planning to ferry an astronaut into space. The Gaganyaan mission aims to take humans to an altitude of 400 kilometers, but to go to the Moon, an Indian astronaut will be required to travel around 400,000 kilometers. ISRO’s aim is to get someone on the Moon by 2040, but now might not be the right time to get into the nitty-gritty. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to make this happen.
After ISRO’s recent triumph with the Chandrayaan-3 mission, India has put its space prowess on the map. That’s what has paved the way for big plans for the future. But before they start making the roadmap, ISRO needs to do some thinking about where they’re heading. It’s time for them to go beyond just trying out new tech and move on to bigger and better things.
It doesn’t mean that ISRO hasn’t made any discoveries during their Moon and Mars missions. But they could have done much more if they had a stronger rocket to work with. The Apollo 11 mission took only eight days, but in the 21st century, it took ISRO a whole 40 days just to get to the Moon.
Right now, ISRO can only take a small amount of stuff for their experiments on the Moon and Mars. The Mars mission could only handle about 15 kilograms of gear, and the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s rover weighed 26 kilograms. These days, India’s LVM-3 (GSLV Mk III) can carry up to four tonnes to a spot in space that’s in sync with the Earth’s rotation and up to six tonnes to a lower spot in the Earth’s orbit.
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ISRO should make its plans public
This is one area where ISRO needs to excel more. What ISRO needs is a more capable vehicle for undertaking more substantial missions to the Moon and Mars. Ambitions to reach Venus and establish a space station need a heavy-lift launching system. ISRO needs to give a major push to the already undergoing programs like the development of semi-cryogenic technology.
India’s plans for the Moon and Mars aren’t all that clear right now. They aced their Mars mission back in 2013-2014. But for their next move, will they go for the 2024 launch window or hold out for 2026? That means there might be more than a decade between their two missions. The same kind of gap happened with India’s Moon missions too, with 11 years between the first and second ones.
ISRO should take things one step at a time for their upcoming space adventures. They might already have a plan like this, but they haven’t announced it yet. Still, in today’s world, where you’re looking for global teamwork and more involvement from private companies, it’s important to share your plans and when you’re planning to do things.
