ISRO on Wednesday said it has successfully conducted two hot tests of the Gaganyaan Service Module Propulsion System (SMPS), a key advancement for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission. The hot tests were carried out on July 3 at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) in Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli District.
“Two short-duration hot tests were conducted for the 30s and 100s to validate the test article configuration. The overall performance of the propulsion system during these hot tests was normal as per pre-test predictions,” ISRO said.
"During the 100s test, simultaneous operation of all RCS thrusters in different modes (steady state; pulsed) along with all LAM engines was also successfully demonstrated," the agency added.ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion System Centre (LPSC) is leading the technology development activities for the Gaganyaan SMPS.
SMPS is a critical system of the Gaganyaan Orbital Module and is required during orbital manoeuvring as well as specific abort scenarios.It comprises of 5 Nos. of Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) engines (each 440N thrust) and 16 nos. of Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters (each 100N thrust).
In order to simulate the propulsion system conditions closer to flight, the SMPS test article for these hot tests incorporated improvements based on experience gained from earlier hot tests.“With the confidence gained through these hot tests, ISRO will conduct a full-duration hot test shortly,” the Indian space agency said.
Gaganyaan is India's human spaceflight mission slated for launch in 2027.The Gaganyaan programme aims to demonstrate India's capability to launch a crewed spacecraft into low Earth orbit. ISRO aims to launch at least two key projects under the Gaganyaan mission this year a second test vehicle and an uncrewed mission.
The uncrewed orbital test mission will pave the way for India’s human spaceflight programme. This will validate systems for crew safety and recovery. Meanwhile, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, part of one of the four astronaut-designates of the Gaganyaan programme, has also been conducting scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that may help the human space flight mission for the country.