ISRO on Tuesday said it carried out ‘well deck’ recovery trials of the Gaganyaan with the Indian Navy on December 6.
The trials were carried out at Eastern Naval Command using a ‘well deck’ ship off the coast of Vishakhapatnam, ISRO said in a statement.
The space agency said the well deck in a ship can be flooded with water so that boats, landing crafts, recovered spacecraft can be taken inside to dock within the ship.
Once the Crew Module touches down in the sea at the end of the mission, crew have to be recovered in the minimum possible time and with the least discomfort, it said.
One of the preferred options is to tow the Crew Module along with the crew inside the well deck of the ship where the crew can come out comfortably, ISRO explained.
It said that the trials for well deck recovery were carried out using a mass and shape-simulated Crew Module Mock-up.
The sequence of operations for well deck recovery of Crew Module was carried out by Indian Navy and ISRO during the trials. The sequence includes the attachment of the recovery buoy, towing, entering into the well deck ship, positioning of Crew Module on the fixture and draining of the well-deck, ISRO said.
“This trial validated the overall sequence of operations, ground fixtures and will help in fine tuning Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). This trial is part of the series of recovery trials being carried out by Indian Navy and ISRO to finalise the SOPs for recovery operations for nominal as well as off-nominal conditions,” the Indian space agency explained.
Gaganyaan, which is among the projects approved by the Union Cabinet, is India’s first human space mission.
Gaganyaan project envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching crew of three members to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission and bringing them back safely to Earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath in September said that this mission will be ready for launch by the end of 2024.
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