Prime Minister Modi announced that India on its 75th year of Independence will place an Indian in space. Modi fixed the 2022 deadline for the most anticipated manned space mission. The most awaited manned space mission has been on board for more than a decade and the announcement made by PM has put ISRO on notice.
Indian Space Research Organization is India’s epitome space agency in designing, fabricating, launching and maintaining a range of satellites, and planning manned research is certainly its next logical project of ISRO.
The Indian manned mission is expected to have three crew members to enter the Low Earth orbit for five to seven days using a native launch vehicle, Mark GSLV III. The cost estimated for such project was Rs 10,000 crore.
We can achieve the 2022 target that the PM has announced. The crew escape system has been tested this year, and we have a launch vehicle and nothing more is needed as technology is concerned. – K Sivan, ISRO Chairman
Sivan says that two unmanned flights are likely to be tested within two years before the final launch of the manned flight, and then the timeline for the rest will be decided accordingly. Work on an orbital vehicle to take the crew to the Low Earth orbit is already underway.
The space agency has been working on its ISRO manned mission for a long time and it has been working on crew module systems, Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), space flight suit and a crew escape system. In 2007, a 550 kg satellite was sent into the orbit and brought back to earth safely in 12 days to test the degree of heat resistance that is essential for re-entry technology. This was done in order to test its first re-entry technology.
In July, ISRO successfully tested a crew escape system at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. But before it finally launches an Indian into space it needs to make every technology perfect most importantly the human flight rocket.
ISRO is undoubtedly working hard for its ISRO manned mission. We are hopeful that we will see a successful launch of the long-awaited manned space mission by ISRO.
