GS 3: Science & Technology | Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics etc.

Why in News?

• A national review committee on Gaganyaan is slated to meet for the first time on March 5 and 6 and comprehensively scan the contours of the first Indian human mission to space.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) wants to unveil the human mission’s details to stakeholders from multiple agencies, and also keep the nation in the loop about the prestigious mission, K.Sivan, ISRO Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space, said. He added, “It should also give us the confidence that we are on the right track with such a humongous project.”

Gaganyaan:

• Gaganyaan is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the basis of the Indian human spaceflight program. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capability.
• In its maiden crewed mission, Indian Space Research Organization’s largely autonomous 3.7-tonne capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km (250 mi) altitude for up to seven days with a three-person crew on board.
• The crewed vehicle is planned to be launched on ISRO’s GSLV Mk III in 2022. This HAL- manufactured crew module had its first uncrewed experimental flight in 2014.

Challenges of the Gaganyaan:

• 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.
• For a manned mission, the key distinguishing capabilities that ISRO has had to develop include the ability to bring the spacecraft back to Earth after flight, building a spacecraft in which astronauts can live in Earth-like conditions in space
• Over the years, ISRO has successfully tested many of the technologies that are required. However, many other challenging ones are still to be developed and tested.