In its Bid to Send Man into Space, ISRO to Launch Crew Module Shortly

Nov 30, 2014 Sanjay Tandon News 0

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53 years after Yuri Gagarin of erstwhile USSR spent a day in outer space; ISRO is planning to send an Indian into space. To test its ability for this ambitious mission, ISRO is planning a launch of a test crew module sometime next month. If this launch is successful, we could well see an Indian roaming into outer space in near future. ISRO has named its mission as CARE. This acronym stands for Crew Module Atmospheric Reentry Experiment, and it will launch a module into space. If this experiment proves to be successful, ISRO would request the government to approve its ambitious plan to send man into space.

 

There may not be one but 2-3 Indians into space

Talking with the media personnel, M Y S Prasad, who is the Director at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, said, “To gain confidence before our deadline, we have decided to test the Crew Recovery Module. But it is not a full fledged one that can carry people.” The launch of the test module is scheduled between 15-20 December. However, the sand colored was already being prepared as it will be encapsulated inside heat shields today. On an average, an astronaut requires around 1.5 m3 space inside a rocket for his movement. The size of the crew module is much bigger than this. This means that there could be 2-3 and not a single person who is being planned to be sent into space by ISSRO.  

ISRO needs to get the approval of the government for this 12500 crore project

Prasad said that it was too early to predict a date when an Indian could be sent into space. He cautioned that this is just the beginning and even if the test launch is successful, it may take another two years to get the approval from the government. By then, ISRO would have tested its ability. It has been an incredible journey full of accomplishments for ISRO right since its inception in 1969, especially its Mission of Mars that received praise and appreciation from all quarters. The project to send an Indian into space would cost around 12500 crores and ISRO would build the biggest rocket it has so far built in its illustrious history.

Parachutes will help in preventing the module from crashing while landing

The success of ISRO’s space mission depends a lot upon a very large parachute made up of nylon. This parachute will have a very large diameter of 31 meters. It is the strength and durability of a system of parachutes that will decide the success of the test crew module as it starts its journey back to the earth. This para chute system will have to withstand the extreme velocities to land safely on earth. This was revealed by S Somnath, the Project Director of GSLV MK III.

The parachutes have been designed and manufactured at Aerial Research and Development Establishment in Agra. Nylon used to make these parachutes is extremely strong and it has also been reinforced with Kevlar at important places. The crew module will be first shot up at a very high speed of 5.3 km/sec. The speed of this module has to be slowed down when it comes back towards earth. This is what these three parachutes would try to achieve. They will op[en up when the module is at altitudes of 15km, 8km, and finally at 4 km with the biggest parachute used in the last.

The success of the mission would depend upon the ability of ISRO to make sure that this parachute system works satisfactorily. “We had done a drop test from a height of 75 km over the ocean along with the Air Force and the Coast Guard,” said Somnath.If everything goes as per the plans and the module is able to withstand high temperatures of 1600 degrees Celsius, it will be brought down to touch the oceans near the Andaman Island. This mission would provide useful data to ISRO to later send an India into space, a domain that belongs to Russia, America, and China till date.

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