"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
23 Feb 2024
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday said that the performance of the key cryogenic engine to be used on board the LVM3 launch vehicles for India’s Gaganyaan missions has been qualified and is now certified for missions that will transport humans into space. In a big move towards the development of the Gaganyaan mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully tested the cryogenic engine that will power Indian astronauts to space. Gaganyaan is India’s proposed first human flight mission that envisions sending a three-membered crew into an orbit of 400km for three days and bringing them back to Earth. The first unmanned Gaganyaan – 1 mission is scheduled sometime in mid-2024. ISRO’s heavy-lift launcher, the LVM has been identified as the launch vehicle to be used during the Gaganyaan missions. Comprising solid, liquid, and a cryogenic stage, these systems can be configured to ferry humans into space.
The seventh in the series of vacuum tests performed on the CE20 cryogenic engine (The CE-20 is a cryogenic rocket engine developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, a subsidiary of the Indian Space Research Organisation), which powers the space vehicle during the cryogenic stage of its lift-off, was performed on February 14 at the space agency’s High Altitude Test Facility in Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu.
It aimed to demonstrate India's capability for human spaceflight by sending a crew of three individuals into a 400-kilometer orbit for a three-day mission and ensuring their safe return by landing in the waters of the Indian Ocean. The test flight was to assess the mid-flight crew escape system of an early version of the Gaganyaan crew module. The TV-D1 vehicle used a modified VIKAS engine with a Crew Module and Crew Escape System mounted at its front. It stood at 34.9 meters tall and had a lift-off weight of 44 tonnes. Its structure was a single-walled unpressurized aluminum structure with a simulated thermal protection system.