<p>India’s ambitious human space programme might not have been the Centre’s priority while formalising the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) but the country’s space agency –– Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) –– is not short on confidence.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Sources in the agency told Deccan Herald that as part of the pre-project activities, drop test of full-scale Crew Module were conducted successfully “to understand the deceleration characteristics and validate the estimated values of ‘G’ level, touchdown velocity and depth of penetration.”<br /><br />Another source pointed out that the flight suit had been successfully tested in vacuum chamber for leak rate assessment and material compatibility under vacuum conditions, adding that this was a key aspect for the programme.<br /><br />The objective of the programme, which is proposed to be implemented in defined phases beginning 2017, is to undertake a human spaceflight mission to carry a crew of two to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and return them safely to a predefined destination on earth. Currently, the pre-project activities are progressing with a focus on the development of critical technologies for subsystems such as Crew Module (CM), Environmental control and Life Support System (ECLSS), Crew Escape System, etc.<br /><br />Sources also said that the mortar-based parachute ejection and deployment tests carried out in single and clustered configuration were a success and the environmental simulation chamber has been realised for testing of ECLSS functional modules and flight suit systems were satisfactory. Updating autopilot on re-suable vehicle . Further, considerable progress has been made in the area of the Re-usable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), critical for such a programme. <br /><br />The RLV-TD has been configured to act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies, namely, hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion towards realising a Two-Stage-to-Orbit (TSTO) fully re-usable launch vehicle.<br /><br />Developments in this regard include updating of autopilot design in RLV-TD ascent phase and technology demonstration vehicle (TDV) descent phase.<br /><br />The validation and navigation and guidance control (NGC) design, liftoff studies et al have been realised through 6D simulations.<br /><br />“Guidance and Autopilot designs were modified based on simulation results,” a source said.<br /></p>
<p>India’s ambitious human space programme might not have been the Centre’s priority while formalising the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) but the country’s space agency –– Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) –– is not short on confidence.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Sources in the agency told Deccan Herald that as part of the pre-project activities, drop test of full-scale Crew Module were conducted successfully “to understand the deceleration characteristics and validate the estimated values of ‘G’ level, touchdown velocity and depth of penetration.”<br /><br />Another source pointed out that the flight suit had been successfully tested in vacuum chamber for leak rate assessment and material compatibility under vacuum conditions, adding that this was a key aspect for the programme.<br /><br />The objective of the programme, which is proposed to be implemented in defined phases beginning 2017, is to undertake a human spaceflight mission to carry a crew of two to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and return them safely to a predefined destination on earth. Currently, the pre-project activities are progressing with a focus on the development of critical technologies for subsystems such as Crew Module (CM), Environmental control and Life Support System (ECLSS), Crew Escape System, etc.<br /><br />Sources also said that the mortar-based parachute ejection and deployment tests carried out in single and clustered configuration were a success and the environmental simulation chamber has been realised for testing of ECLSS functional modules and flight suit systems were satisfactory. Updating autopilot on re-suable vehicle . Further, considerable progress has been made in the area of the Re-usable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), critical for such a programme. <br /><br />The RLV-TD has been configured to act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies, namely, hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion towards realising a Two-Stage-to-Orbit (TSTO) fully re-usable launch vehicle.<br /><br />Developments in this regard include updating of autopilot design in RLV-TD ascent phase and technology demonstration vehicle (TDV) descent phase.<br /><br />The validation and navigation and guidance control (NGC) design, liftoff studies et al have been realised through 6D simulations.<br /><br />“Guidance and Autopilot designs were modified based on simulation results,” a source said.<br /></p>
